Ascella Black and the What was I thinking befriending Harry Potter?
by HPWeasleyTwins
Summary: Ascella Black is the daughter of Sirius Black and Marlene McKinnon. Raised by her father's cousin, this story will follow Ascella's tumultuous and sometimes hilarious journey through school, after all being best friends with Harry Potter isn't like being best friends with just anybody. Basically an AU under premise: what if Sirius had a daughter, what if she was Harry's best friend
1. Chapter 1

**a/n Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Harry Potter, you recognize it, it's JK's. This is my first time posting anything so let me know if there is anything I can do to improve. Hope you enjoy!**

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September 1st 1991  


Eleven year old Ascella Marlene Black was nothing if not determined. Some might call it rebellious even but she'd be damned if she was going to end up sorted into the same house as her parents. Stupid Gryffindor's. Being in _that_ "noble" house had only gotten her mother killed in the war against Voldemort and landed her father in prison. No thank you that wasn't for her. They could take all their bravery and stuff it as far as she was concerned.

Ascella was currently sitting in a compartment alone on the Hogwarts Express, her arms crossed and glaring at anyone who dared try to sit with her. Ted, Meda, and Dora had just kissed her goodbye wishing her well; Meda with tears in her eyes. _They_ seemed to think she was a shoe in for Gryffindor. Well she'd show them too.

Anyone who'd known Marlene McKinnon would have been struck by how much her daughter looked like her. It was true, they were almost carbon copies of one another, from the thick, wavy blonde hair and flawless skin to the pert nose and full lips, but at this moment, with her father's steel grey eyes flashing, her face pulled in haughty rebellion no one would doubt she was the daughter of Sirius Black.

Unfortunately her glares and haughtiness weren't enough to keep the tall, handsome, dark skinned boy from entering the compartment moments after the train had left.

"Zabini," she said darkly.

"Black," he replied just as darkly sitting down on the bench opposite her as close to the door as she was to the window. They were quite literally sitting as far away from each other as the compartment allowed. It still wasn't far enough for Ascella.

She tried shooting him her death glare, the one that sent even Dora running, to indicate he should leave. He ignored her and calmly pulled out a book. She harrumphed at him. He merely raised an eyebrow, eyes never leaving his book.

The next half hour passed in similar fashion until finally Ascella couldn't take it anymore.

"Leave," she said shortly. His golden eyes flicked towards her as he flipped a page.

"No."

Ascella's eyes flashed, the only indication on an otherwise calm, if brooding, exterior that his comment had annoyed her.

She leaned back lazily, still watching him read, her lips pursed as if in thought. She and Blaise Zabini weren't well acquainted but they knew of each other. They'd met at various parties thrown in the wizarding community, most notably when his mother had been married to her 5th husband; he'd been both a professional Quidditch player and good friends with Ted in school. Ascella was still convinced the mother was involved in the Quidditch "accident" that had killed him. His mother was as beautiful as she was vain. Zabini had inherited his mother's good looks as well as her vanity. Naturally he and Ascella had never gotten on and Ascella's quick tongue had never shied from making him aware of it. Just as he hadn't shied from insulting Ted, her muggleborn guardian.

Zabini finally looked up. When his eyes met hers she grinned faux sweetly.

"Don't get any ideas about us becoming friends," she said icily. He snorted. He did even that attractively. Ascella would bet her chocolate frogs collection he'd practiced it in the mirror.

"Obviously not," he sneered before returning to his book. Satisfied Ascella spent the rest of the journey drifting in and out of sleep or gazing out the window resolutely. Her anger from the morning had faded but her resolve had only strengthened. Both she and Zabini declined the trolley lady's inquiry about sweets. When the afternoon turned into evening Ascella kicked Zabini out so she could change into her robes. Exiting the train a little while later she couldn't help but muse that though she disliked him he hadn't made a bad traveling companion; at least he'd been quiet.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" Ascella looked in the direction of the voice. She soon caught sight of the biggest man she had ever seen in her life. Though she'd been expecting it, Dora had told her about Hagrid after all, she still stumbled in surprise. She wasn't the only one of her fellow first years to do so. She couldn't help but think that her cousin hadn't done the Hogwarts Gamekeeper quite the justice his size deserved.

Not wanting to be left behind Ascella and her fellow first years recovered and trudged along behind Hagrid. Upon reaching the lake they all got the first view of the castle reflecting back at them in the water. Several of those around her gasped in awe. Even she had to admit she was impressed, her eyebrows lifting in wonder.

Hagrid then directed them towards the fleet of boats bobbing in the water by the shore, telling them no more than four to a boat. Ascella climbed into a boat with a sandy haired boy and a tall black one. They were soon joined by a pretty brunette. When the boats took off of their own volition Ascella saw the black boy and the girls eyes widen in wonder. Muggleborns she thought smiling to herself, or at the very least not raised in the wizarding world. She couldn't imagine what it must be like for them to be seeing magic like this for the first time, to finally understand what their weird bursts of magic had really been while growing up.

Soon they entered a cove beneath the castle and were trudging up the sloping lawn to a massive oak front door. They were ushered through to an expansive entrance hall, complete with a glorious marble staircase. They were met by a stern looking witch, whose grey hair was pulled back in a severe bun. Professor McGonagall. Dora had warned her to never get on her bad side; Ascella had of course taken this as a challenge.

After her welcoming speech they were left briefly. It seemed some of the students were whispering about something excitedly but Ascella couldn't be bothered to find out what. She was too busy readying herself to convince the hat that Gryffindor was the last place for her, well the second to last as there was no way she was going to be in Slytherin, a bunch of bigoted, selfish snobs there.

McGonagall soon came back and escorted them into the Great Hall. She looked up at the ceiling with interest, wondering just what enchantment they had used to make it look like the sky outside. She barely managed to keep from rolling her eyes, though, when she heard a bushy haired girl announce that it was enchanted and that she'd read about it in _Hogwarts, A History_. Of course it was enchanted, Ascella thought, and was it necessary to announce where she'd read the information?

When they reached the front of the room McGonagall began reading names off a long piece of parchment. Ascella paid little attention to the names being read but she soon heard "Black, Ascella." She stepped forward confidently, despite the hushed whispering that had accompanied her name being called. Among wizards the surname Black was well known, though a Black hadn't attended the school in a generation. She sat on the stool. McGonagall placed the hat on her head and she was plunged into darkness as it slipped past her eyes.

It only took a moment before the hat spoke into her head. If Ascella was surprised she didn't show it.

"Hmm, yes you are too easy," it said. Sensing it was about to open its brim and shout Gryffindor she thought defiantly back at it. _Don't. Even. Think about it_.

The hat seemed surprised when it thought back. "Hmm, oh yes I see you are very determined not to end up there... Perhaps you take more after your father's side than I'd thought... You want to restore the old family... hmm?"

 _Ugh. No. Put me in Slytherin and mark my words I'll march out of this room and feed you to the Giant Squid._

Slightly alarmed the hat told her that wouldn't be necessary. Finally he asked if she was sure about Gryffindor. Oh she was sure.

"Well if you're sure," it thought at her, "then it'll be - RAVENCLAW!" The hat shouted out the last word to the crowd. The table just right of center erupted in cheers. She primly took the hat off and sauntered over to her house table. She was welcomed by the older students as she slid demurely onto the empty bench at the end, her back to what was clearly the Slytherin table. Take that parents, she couldn't help but think satisfied.

The rest of the sorting passed with Ascella ignoring it; instead she looked around the Great Hall, at her fellow students, and at the staff table. She caught sight of a greasy haired Professor staring daggers at her. She smiled in return before looking away. The only time she paid any attention back to the sorting was when she noticed the excitement that had descended over the entire hall. She'd looked around in alarm until she noticed how intently everyone was staring at the front of the room, some even craning in their seats to get a better view. She followed their eyes and until hers landed on a skinny boy with messy jet black hair, glasses, and the most striking green eyes she'd ever seen. She'd missed the boys name but clearly everyone seemed to know of him. Some famous person's son she figured as the hat fell over the boys eyes. She watched with the rest until "GRYFFINDOR!" The table on the far side of the hall erupted in deafening cheers.

Ascella smiled when she caught sight of a flash of red. It was the Weasley twins who were currently chanting something loudly looking pleased. She'd met the troublesome duo on more than one occasion. Which reminded her that Ronald would be starting this year as well. Sure enough when she turned back to the front she caught sight of his long nose and shocking red hair. He, unsurprisingly, got Gryffindor just like the rest of his family. Finally once Zabini had been placed in Slytherin (no surprise at all there), the aging Headmaster Albus Dumbledore stood and told them to "tuck in," and so when the food appeared she did just that, all in all very satisfied with her day.


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n don't own. Sorry to that person that followed this b/c I have a lot of this story done and have for awhile. I just haven't posted it. These edited/updated chappies are for you as well as anyone else who finds Ascella as amusing as I do. Just don't take her too seriously. ;)**

September 1991

The next morning she was significantly less satisfied with with her choice. It had definitely landed her, in what could only be described as, the most "unique" house.

And that was putting it nicely. All anyone had talked about was how smart all the Ravenclaw's were, how much they valued education, and what lessons they were looking forward to. Classes hadn't even begun and she already needed a break from all the school talk. So taking the prefect, Robert Hilliard's advice she made sure she had everything in her bag that she'd need for the day (Merlin only knew she didn't want to try her hand at that stupid door knocker) and headed down to breakfast before the rest of her classmates. She didn't even get lost once.

"Budge up Weasley," she said down in the Great Hall poking Ron in the side and sliding in between him and the boy with glasses everyone had been staring at last night. Ascella had known Ron ever since Dora had started Hogwarts and had befriended his older brother Charlie. If anyone could counter the Ravenclaw's batty chatter it would be Ron Weasley.

"What - what are you doing?" he sputtered.

"Eating breakfast," she said, buttering some toast.

"But - why here?" he asked mouth still gaping. She took a bite of her toast, unconcerned about his confusion.

"Had to get away from those bloody Ravenclaws. All they want to talk about is school this, experiment that. Real tiresome. And don't even get me started on how drafty the dorms are; wind howling outside and all. Hardly got a wink of sleep last night."

Ron was still staring at her, a mix of awe and indignation on his face. Awe most likely because she seemed to so blatantly be breaking the rules already, though no one expressly said they couldn't sit at other house tables, and indignation because she'd interrupted his breakfast.

Ascella chose to ignore him, instead turning to the boy on her right. His bottle green eyes met her grey ones. She studied him, then deciding he seemed nice enough she smiled sweetly.

"Hi. We haven't met. I'm Ascella Black."

"Harry," he replied a little apprehensive but confident nonetheless. "Harry Potter." Understanding flooded Ascella. _That_ was what everyone had been buzzing about last night. _The boy who lived had come to Hogwarts._

Instead of acknowledging this though Ascella smirked at him, her eyes never leaving his; she refused to gawk at his forehead for the famous lightning bolt scar. He surely got enough of that as it was.

"Well Harry, I just have one question for you then." Ron recognizing her tone tried to interrupt. She discreetly prodded him in the side with her fork. Hard. "Tell me, what was it like growing up with muggles?" she continued. Harry's eyes widened in surprise. He, like Ron, had clearly been expecting a more tactless question. Then he laughed.

"Awful," he said grinning. "To be honest I didn't even know this world existed until a few weeks ago," he confessed, helping himself to some bacon. And like that Ascella knew they were friends. They, along with Ron once he got over the shock, easily conversed and laughed through the rest of breakfast.

Nearing the end McGonagall began working her way down the row of students handing out timetables. Ascella waited patiently wondering what her reaction would be. She was disappointed, McGonagall merely handed a timetable to Ron and then Harry, and continued on.

"Well that was anti-climatic," she said dryly. The boys laughed.

"And now we know you are allowed to sit here," Harry added.

A few moments later tiny Professor Flitwick, her head of house she'd learned last night, came bustling down to her.

"Ah Miss Black there you are," he said in a squeaky voice.

"Uh yeah, here I am," she said weakly, worried he'd be upset with having difficulty finding her.

She needn't have worried though as Flitwick airily waved her off. "Not to worry, not to worry! Making friends in other houses is encouraged! Good for you! Now here is your timetable." He handed her a piece of parchment outlying her classes for the year. "And I'll be seeing you later today!" And with that he bustled back off towards the staff table.

"Cheerful that one," Ron commented as they all watched him leave. Harry and Ascella nodded in agreement. Then Ascella plucked Harry's timetable out of his hand. After a moment of indignation he realized she was comparing and bent his head to compare as well.

"Rotten luck," he said. " Only Astronomy, Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts together." Ascella nodded, giving him back his timetable.

"At least we have Astronomy and Transfiguration today," she said. "Not that I'm looking forward to lesson's mind you," she continued. She had more to say but she was promptly cut off from speaking further by the bushy haired girl from the night before.

"But how can you not be looking forward to lessons?" she asked in amazement. "I think it all sounds so fascinating! I can't wait to see what they can teach us, granted I've already read all the textbooks but I've only tried a few simple spells..." and she continued on and on about their courses while Ascella, Harry, and Ron stared at her. Ascella in shock, she'd thought she'd left the Ravenclaw chatter at her house table two tables away, Harry in mild discomfort and Ron in complete annoyance. When she finally stopped Ascella blinked.

"Right," she began slowly, "Remind me to never talk to you. Like ever again." Ron snorted. Turning to the boys she asked incredulous, "Are we sure she's supposed to be in Gryffindor?" Both boys grinned. The girl turned away with a curt tut.

"Well I guess I'd best be off," Ascella said seeing her fellow Ravenclaws rise across the hall. "See you in Astronomy theo!" she called as she left blowing kisses and then laughing with Harry at Ron's disgusted face.

Ascella caught up with her dorm mates Lisa Turpin and Mandy Brocklehurst and their fellow first year Ravenclaws at the top of the marble staircase.

"Where've you been?" Lisa asked pointedly. Lisa had short brown hair and she might have been pretty if she wasn't always scowling. Mandy on the other hand was beautiful, with long pretty brown hair and wide baby blue eyes and Ascella had already learned she was always ready with a smile. Mandy had been the other girl in her boat the night before. Mandy, Ascella liked, Lisa however, well Lisa wasn't likely going to be on her list of favorite people. Like ever.

"Making friends Turpin," Ascella said airily. "You should try it, but first you might try smiling." Ascella laughed as Lisa's scowl deepened. Before she could retort however Ascella breezed past her and into the History of Magic classroom on the first floor.

Ascella bi-passed the Ravenclaws that were all plopping down in the front and headed straight for the back. She was pleased to discover at least two of her fellow Ravenclaws preferred the back. She sat in the empty seat next to a lanky blonde boy who was casually popping his gum. On his other side an Asian looking boy appeared to be asleep, his shaggy black hair fluttering with his breathes.

"Glad to see I'm not the only sane Ravenclaw," she said by way of greeting. The boy smirked at her in agreement. "I'm Ascella Black by the way," she held out her hand.

"Aaron Morag," the boy replied shaking her hand. "And that's Kevin Entwhistle." He gestured to the sleeping boy.

"Entwhistle?" Ascella repeated trying not to laugh. Aaron laughed.

"Yeah weird I know. His dad is English but his mum is from Korea. Or something like that I can't remember exactly," he said shrugging.

"Why's he asleep?" she asked. Morag looked at her dubious.

"You slept in the same dorms as we did right? With the winds howling outside?" Ascella laughed in understanding.

"Ah yes I feel his pain," she said.

The first years from Hufflepuff house entered shortly after and the lesson began. The most interesting part without a doubt was when Professor Binns entered the classroom from the blackboard. A muggleborn in the front row fell off her seat in shock. Ascella and Morag spent the rest of the lesson in the back chatting and seeing how much stuff they could pile on Entwhistle before he woke up. Turned out the boy was quite the heavy sleeper. It wasn't until Morag's last exploding snap card slipped from his fingers as he'd tried to place it on the top of the pile of books and ink bottles and the resulting boom! that finally woke Entwhistle.

"'Was goin' on?" he flailed around arms waving, and causing items from the pile to fall loudly to the floor. At this point the entire class had turned to the three in the back. Ascella and Morag tried to look back innocently while Entwhistle slowly colored as he realized what had happened. Ascella was sure that it was only a matter of time before Binns came and told them off for the ruckus they'd made, but Binns was still droning on about Merlin only knew what. Ascella couldn't contain it anymore, she let a small giggle out. Soon all three of them were leaning into each other laughing. Lisa Turpin's death glare sent them all into more peals of laughter.

By the end of the lesson Ascella had decided Morag and Entwhistle were good people. Entwhistle was a muggleborn who hadn't wanted to be in Ravenclaw but who knew that being in the "smart" house would be something that his muggle parents would understand and be proud of. Morag was from Scotland and had been raised on a manor with his parents, and younger sister. His family was from an old pureblood line that died out when his mum married a half-blood and ended the family name. Apparently it had been his grandfathers proudest moment ("My granddad was a bit obsessed with muggles.")

At the bell the three followed the rest of the students to a courtyard for break. Ascella soon spotted Harry and Ron and saying a quick "see you later" to Morag and Entwhistle, made her way to them where she promptly told them just how "droll" and "illuminating" the History of Magic lesson had been. They laughed. At the end of break they all made their way to the fourth floor Astronomy theory classroom.

The whole lesson Harry was fascinated, while Ascella couldn't stop wondering at how learning about the stars felt like a family history lesson. The Blacks, including her, had been named after stars, and constellations for generations. Of course she got all of them in stitches when she kept writing Aunt, Uncle, Great Uncle, cousin, etc before all the named labels on the star chart they were supposed to be copying down. Particularly when she'd looked at Harry's and told him it was all wrong and upon stealing it she returned it with the added prefixes. The only one she didn't label was father. He had no place in her life and he didn't deserve one, even in a joke.

Ascella ate lunch with Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table. This time the twins noticed her. Of course they heckled her but she'd always been quick with words and so kept up nicely with their jokes. They seemed mildly impressed with the young first year, though only George betrayed anything outwardly.

After lunch she, Morag, and Entwhistle had a hard time finding the Charms classroom. It wasn't so much the classroom that was the problem it was the floor. Once they'd been sure the staircase they'd taken from the second floor had taken them to the third floor, only to find themselves on the fifth, a fact they were told when they'd walked into McGonagall's 5th year Transfiguration class. While McGonagall's lips thinned in annoyance, Ascella can't help but think she was at least a little amused as she directed them to the correct staircase.

The three walked into Charms five minutes late commenting on how confusing it was for staircases to span more than one floor in one go around. Luckily Flitwick wasn't upset by their lateness once they explained, he merely chuckled and told them to grab a seat. They clamored into a bench in the middle. Ascella was displeased to see Zabini and the rest of the Slytherin's in the class. She sneered at Zabini as she passed. He sneered back. They were such good friends.

At her seat she noticed a pale pointed faced boy staring at her, grinning smugly. He was sitting between two of the biggest meat head first years she had yet to see. Her blood ran cold. She'd bet anything that the boy was her cousin (or was it second cousin? Just how was she related to her dad's cousin's kid? She'd never been able to figure it out, for him or Dora). Draconius Malfoy, or Draco as his family called him.

She smiled coolly at him before turning her back on him and for the first time all day paying attention in class. That didn't mean she took notes but she did pay attention. Charms she quickly decided was going to be her favorite class, now if only they'd start actually using the spells they were learning.

Next was Transfiguration. Morag, Entwhistle, and Ascella had a good laugh when they darted up the staircase that led straight to the 5th floor and arrived five minutes before their fellow Ravenclaws. Morag and Entwhistle sat a row in front of Ascella. The Gryffindor's arrived just behind the Ravenclaw's, Harry dropping into the seat next to Ascella, Ron filing in on his other side. They laughed when she told them about getting lost on the way to Charms. They told her about how they were already on the caretaker, Filch's, bad side when they'd been trying to find Charms earlier in the day and it had turned out to actually be the forbidden corridor they'd been trying to get into.

McGongall entered the classroom shortly after and began roll. She paused both at Ascella's and Harry's names. Looking between the two of them as if mildly amused and yet horrified at the same time.

"Wonder what that's about," Ascella whispered to Harry. Harry shrugged, equally confused. What they didn't know was that McGonagall was remembering another set of first years, another Black and Potter that had once sat in the exact same seats that the current ones occupied.

Dinner was uneventful. It was only when everyone was headed back to their common rooms that Ascella realized she'd be headed back to Ravenclaw. Bidding Harry and Ron good-bye on the fifth floor she headed to where the long spiral staircase that led to the brass door knocker was. Ascella was not looking forward to trying to answer whatever riddle the blasted door knocker had for her; she had a feeling she'd be rubbish at it. Luckily she caught sight of Terry Boot just after she'd started climbing.

"Oi Boot!" she called catching up to him. He gave her a nice smile. Of all the stereotypical Ravenclaw's Boot was by far the nicest. They chatted amicably about their day before reaching the top, where they found Entwhistle and Morag, both standing with furrowed brows thinking. They brightened on seeing them. Apparently they'd already tried a guess each. Boot hit the knocker and promptly began thinking out loud with Morag and Entwhistle. Ascella felt her stomach plummet as she remembered what it had said. _I am a master of disguise; you ne'er shall sniff me out. But what you seek to hide I shall seek reveal beyond all doubt._ She had no idea. All she could think of was truth and she knew that wasn't the answer. Entwhistle had already guessed that.

After much discussion Boot guessed truth potion. That wasn't it. They went back to discussing.

Then Ascella realized something. "Hey truth potion. Like Veritaserum ri-?" But her question was cut off as the door swung open.

"Nicely done Black," Morag said impressed with her.

"Er..." she said unsure of how to reply. Truthfully she hadn't been trying to answer the riddle. It was just a fluke that she'd gotten it. Even now knowing that Veritaserum was the answer she could barely see how the riddle described that and she definitely didn't see how anyone was supposed to figure it out.

She spent the rest of the evening with Morag and Entwhistle between practicing (and easily perfecting) the spells Flitwick and McGonagall had been talking about today and magicing notes to Harry about the knocker and the strange happenings around her house. One girl had somehow managed to turn herself green while doing some experimental magic and couldn't undo it. The 4th year also didn't take well to Ascella offering her opinion of what she could do to fix it.

 _Really?_ Harry's reply had been. _The only "experimental" magic going on here was when the twins jinxed Percy's quill to always write charming comments about them instead of what he wanted to write._ Ascella had laughed at that. She'd bet Percy hadn't been too enthused about that though.

Ascella bid Morag and Entwhistle goodnight and threw one final comment at the fourth year ("You know you really should try the decolor charm in combination with a skin potion. I know you were trying for transfiguration but you messed up the wand movement and so you ended up charming yourself.") and headed to her dorm.

The rest of the girls were already there getting ready for bed and chatting. They stopped when she got there, but Ascella smiled and they continued. Mandy even smiled tentatively smiled back and one Padma Patil openly said hi, after Turpin had continued to glare. Ascella smiled back at both Mandy and returned Padma's hello. She couldn't help but think as she drew her hangings around her, that maybe Padma wasn't so bad; there was nothing like mutual dislike to bring two people together. She fell asleep that night and found that maybe the wind whistling through the turrets was actually rather calming, not that you'd ever catch her admitting to it. No she'd never admit to it but she was starting to feel quite at home.


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n own nothing in this world**

September 1991

"Tell me it's true. Please tell me it's true," Ascella said squeezing in next to Harry on the Gryffindor bench at dinner.

"Tell you what is true," Harry hedged, but he was grinning. He knew exactly what she was talking about.

"It is isn't it?! I knew it!" she said excitedly. "Can't wait to see Malfoy's face when he hears," she continued ruefully stabbing a pork chop onto her plate. Ron nodded in agreement looking equally in awe of Harry.

"We all thought for sure McGonagall was going to expel him," he said through a mouthful of potatoes. They both proceeded to tell her just what had happened, right up to the part where Harry became the youngest Quidditch player in a century. They swore her to secrecy about the last part; apparently Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor team, wanted to keep it on the down low, which explained why half the school already suspected it. They also told her about the duel Malfoy had challenged Harry to.

"Blimey. You're flying lesson was certainly more entertaining than mine. The most entertaining thing that happened was when Ernie MacMillan from Hufflepuff got smacked in the face by his broom. Mind you he was going on and on about technique and how it was really good for us to learn flying. I was about ready to hit him myself... Also about the duel, be careful. I wouldn't put it past Malfoy to be just trying to lure you out after hours."

Soon after the twins came down to congratulate Harry and Ascella took the opportunity to catch up with Boot who she'd noticed leaving the Great Hall. It had become clear to Ascella that while she was incredibly smart and excelled at all of her classes with minimal effort (except Herbology, green thumb she did not have), she was just not cut out for answering riddles. The couple of times she'd tried on her own, she always answered too literally and was locked out until another student either exited or could answer the question correctly. Her way around this had been to pack everything she'd need for a day and then always head to the tower with someone after dinner. That someone had more often than not turned out to be Terry Boot. Partially because he almost always got the riddle right the first time and partially because he was about the nicest person she had ever met and as such didn't mind her using him to gain entrance to the common room, despite the fact that they rarely interacted otherwise. He was closer to Micheal Corner and Anthony Goldstein than Aaron Morag and Kevin Entwhistle.

The next day at dinner found Ascella in a right mood. She slammed her bag on the table next to a surprised Harry and Ron, and slumped onto the bench angrily.

"Bad day," Harry asked mildly. She pouted at him.

"I swear Snape is out for my blood," she said miserably blowing her bangs out of her face. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a sweaty ponytail. She'd just come from the worst Potions lesson ever.

"As bad as Harry?" Ron asked.

"I don't know. Does he give you zeros when your potion is perfect?" she asked Harry.

"Er, no," he replied. "But my potions aren't perfect."

"Ah, that must be my problem then," she said sarcastically. Harry sent her a look of sympathy.

"What exactly happened?" he asked.

And so she told him. She'd been making her potion and had finished in half the time that her classmates had. Snape had come over, unbelieving, to inspect. Sure enough it had been perfect, as Ascella hadn't been shy in telling him. Then he'd narrowed his eyes and sneered at her.

"Five points from Ravenclaw," he'd said.

"For what?" she'd burst out angrily.

"For not following directions."

"But why follow those directions when you can do what I did and cut the brew time in half!"

"And then he took five more points," Ascella continued to Harry. "For 'arrogance' and 'cheek'. At this point the rest of the class had figured out what was going on. You should have seen how annoyed Aaron and Kevin were. Even Terry Boot and Padma Patil came to my defense saying it wasn't right to be punished for learning more than the lesson had offered. They even went so far as to say I should be awarded points for going above and beyond. To be honest I don't think a group of Ravenclaw's have ever lost so many points in a class before."

"So let me get this straight. You got points taken away because you were _smarter_ than the lesson?" Harry asked slowly when she'd finished.

"Basically, yeah."

"Yeah I think he might hate you more," he said simply patting her back in mock sympathy. Ascella made a face at him. He laughed.

"Git," she mumbled, before spearing a turkey leg onto her plate and pretending it had Snape's face.

"Hey I know what will cheer you up!" he said a little while later. "We are having an Exploding Snap tournament in the common room tonight and you should come!"

Ascella's face brightened and then she bit her lip.

"Brilliant! But am I even allowed in the Gryffindor common room?" she asked.

"Uh, good point. I don't know, but you should come anyway."

"Okay."

"Okay? You aren't worried about getting in trouble?" Harry asked.

"Nah. I mean I was and then I decided Exploding Snap is worth it." Harry laughed at her unsurprised. Not much worried Ascella. "By the way, you never did tell me about the duel."

"Oh yeah! Get this," Harry started leaning in to tell her what Ron, Hermione, and he had found behind the door to the forbidden passage on the third floor.

"Are you kidding me? Wonder what it's guarding," Ascella said when Harry had finished his tale.

"I don't know but whatever it is, it must be important or incredibly dangerous," Harry replied.

"Or both," Ascella mused. As she was saying this she caught sight of Granger down the row her nose stuck in a book. "Did Granger really say that being expelled would be worse than dying?" she asked incredulous.

Harry nodded his eyes wide.

"Blimey," Ascella said shaking her head. "She really should have been in Ravenclaw."

After dinner Ascella headed with Harry and Ron up multiple flights of stairs and through passages she hadn't known were there until they were in a part of the castle she had never been before.

"What floor is this?" she asked curiously.

"Seventh," Harry replied. Then looking at Ron he asked, "D'you think we should have blindfolded her?" Ron shrugged. Ascella hit Harry.

"If you ever try to blindfold me, believe me you will regret it, remember I know more hexes than you do."

Harry grinned at her, his green eyes flashing.

"Then again maybe a gag would be better for all of us," he said slyly. She tried to hit him again but he darted out of the way laughing with Ron.

"Oh ha ha very funny, Potter," Ascella replied dryly. "Don't go getting too cheeky. And no neither will be necessary, I'll keep mum about where the Gryffindor's can be found."

They continued walking and soon found themselves facing a portrait of an immensely fat woman in a pink dress.

"Caput Draconis," Harry said. Ascella looked at him funny until the portrait swung open to reveal a hole in the wall. Her mouth dropped. Harry nudged her forward glee in his eyes at her reaction, as Ron crawled through the hole.

"That's it?!" she said still staring dumbfounded. "Just a password?!"

Harry laughed and nodded.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Ascella muttered as she crawled through. "Sure _they_ get a password. Why can't _we_ have a password? Would that have really been too hard? I could remember a bloody password."

On the other side Ascella stopped again in amazement looking around her. Students were gathered around in big armchairs and lazing on couches laughing with friends and enjoying their Friday evening, not a speck of homework in sight.

"Aw! It's so cozy!" she exclaimed to Harry when he'd joined her. "And it's nice to see people actually doing stuff unrelated to school work on a Friday." He grinned at her.

"Come on the tournament's over here." Harry took her by the elbow and guided her over towards a group of couches where a group of first year boys were waiting. Ascella recognized the two boys she'd come across the lake with. They were introduced as Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas. There was also the poor boy who'd lost his toad. His name was Neville Longbottom. No body batted an eye that Harry and Ron had brought a Ravenclaw with them and soon the tournament began.

Ascella destroyed them. They seemed to mostly be good sports about it but they were demanding a rematch. Unfortunately it was almost first year curfew so Ascella had to head out. Before they let her leave they made her promise to come back. She made it back to the knocker on time but like hell if she'd be able to get in. Sure enough she got it wrong. She thought about sending in a message but realized everyone had probably already headed to bed. So she settled down to wait. And that was how Ascella spent her first night (first of many she suspected) sleeping outside her common room.

A week later found Ascella once again locked out. Ever since the last Friday she had been spending more and more time in the Gryffindor common room. She still spent time with Aaron and Kevin and still walked back with Boot, but she almost always made a trip to visit the Gryffindor's at least once a night. She just grew bored in the Ravenclaw common room. Her homework was easy for her when she bothered to do it. She always had something to turn in but she didn't need to spend the hours on it that her classmates seemed to, whatever Ascella read or heard she remembered and as she'd been reading anything Ted would bring home from the Wizarding library where he worked since the age of 5 she had a vast knowledge base already. So it was either sit and do more of the Animagus research she had begun or go be entertained by the Gryffindor's.

On this particular Friday Ascella was currently wondering back from hanging out with Ron and his brothers. She was strolling aimlessly, dreading another night on the stone cold floor when she spotted Harry walking back from his first Quidditch practice.

"Oi, Potter," she called. He grinned when he saw her and walked over. "So how was it?" she asked trying for her usual eagerness.

"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I start real practice with the team next week. Where are you off to?" Harry asked. He seemed to have picked up on her mood.

"Back to Ravenclaw tower. Though I'm not looking forward to it."

"Why?" Harry asked brow furrowed. "I thought you were getting on well with the rest of the Ravenclaw's."

Ascella sighed and not looking at Harry said, "Oh yes I am. Except for Turpin. But only Mandy gets on with her. No I'm just not looking forward to getting locked out again," she finished quietly.

"Oh," Harry said in sympathy. "I'm sorry. Does it happen often?" She nodded. "Why haven't you said anything?" Harry asked upset with her. She met his earnest eyes and looked away blushing. Blushing because truthfully she hadn't told anyone because it was embarrassing. So she just shrugged in answer to Harry's question.

"Cells," Harry said using the nickname he and Ron had adopted for her, "Have you been sleeping outside your common room?" Miserably she nodded again, looking down at her shoes.

Harry grabbed her arm then and began marching off with her in the direction she'd been heading.

"Uh, Harry?" she finally asked. "Where are we going?"

"To Ravenclaw tower. If we can't figure it out between the two of us then you are coming back with me to Gryffindor tower."

"Oh," she said breathless. That made sense. Then, "Well in that case you should have turned two hallways back."

Eventually they reached the bronze door knocker, Harry commenting that their entrance wasn't that difficult to find despite the fact that he had admitted to never having been in that part of the castle. Ascella told him that while that may be true their knocker more than made up for it.

"So you just knock it?" Harry asked skeptical as he faced the door knocker.

"Yup," she said reaching for it. The eagle began speaking as her hand fell away.

"Judge no book by its cover, it is said amongst the wise. My unappealing outside my true usefulness belies. The swiftest means to reach thy goal lies well-concealed in me. Extend thy hand then, pilgrim, and embrace thy destiny."

Harry just stared at the knocker in complete confusion and bewilderment. Ascella couldn't help it she started giggling. Harry turned to her blinking.

"It asks stuff like that _all_ the time?" he asked amazed. Ascella made a pained face.

"Unfortunately yes."

"Right. How often has guessing worked?"

"Approximately never."

"Right. Well you have any ideas?" Harry looked at her hopefully.

"Well the first two lines make sense, don't judge something by its "cover" or appearance, so it's clearly something ugly, the second line implying that its more important than it would seem. But then it makes no sense. It gets all philosophical. Do you know of something that's ugly but is supposed to be really useful?"

Harry furrowed his brow. Then brightening he said, "Snape."

"What?" Ascella asked a smile starting to form on her face.

"Well think about it," Harry started listing out his reasons on his fingers, "He's certainly ugly, have you seen how greasy his hair is? And he's supposed to be useful and help us learn stuff. Makes sense to me."

Ascella laughed. "As much as I agree that Snape is an ugly git, who should be helping us there is no way that's the answer."

"Right well I'm stumped."

"Bugger. Me too," Ascella said. "Take your best guess."

"Hogwarts, A History," Harry said to the door. The door told him that it wasn't right. Ascella just stared at Harry. "What," he asked. "It was the first thing that popped into my head."

Shaking her head she thought about the riddle again. "You know it might actually have something to do with traveling," she mused to Harry. "That might be what the philosophical part is on about." She turned to the door and said," Apparation."

"Close but not the kind of travel meant."

"Damnit," Ascella swore realizing the answer. "It was a fucking portkey wasn't it?" She took the door's silence as confirmation. Harry had to pull Ascella down the stairs away from the door as she had started swearing profusely at the door knocker.

At the base of the stairs she shrugged Harry off. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"It always does that! Every time I get it wrong the stupid knocker answers me with a hint that always makes it obvious what it was!" she answered Harry's unasked question. Harry just grinned at her and started off towards Gryffindor tower. Sighing she caught up to him putting her arm through his, the one not carrying his broom.

"You know you have a bit of a temper," he said quietly. She laughed.

"Not really though," she replied thinking. "Well a bit, but honestly I'm more just embarrassed than anything. I feel like the worst Ravenclaw ever. Do you even know how many times I've spent the night outside with that stupid knocker. It doesn't make for a good talking companion."

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "Is that why you always have all your books for the entire day?" She nodded. "Alright well this stops today," Harry said resolutely. Ascella snorted.

"Were you not at the same door I just was?"

"Funny," he said darkly. "I just meant that when you get locked out from now on you'll come to Gryffindor. The fat lady has to let you in if you know the password, so I'll just always make sure you know it. You can sleep in our dorm if you have to!"

Ascella felt a rush of gratitude for her friend.

"Thanks Harry," she said sincerely throwing her arm around him and giving him a squeeze. He was surprised but pleased.

"Although if I'm going to be staying in your dorm we'd best be discrete." She winked at him coyly, watching his face as he got her joke. His eyes widened in surprise and he slowed down.

"That's not - I just meant -"

"Relax Potter," she said laughing and tugging him along. "I knew what you meant." He shook his head at her and grinned, allowing himself to be dragged along by his friend.

The common room was empty when they reached it. Harry told her to wait while he went to make sure everyone was asleep. He came back down after a few moments.

"Wait," he said before tugging her hood up and making sure her golden hair was hidden in its depths. "Just in case," he said. Nodding she followed him up the stairs to a door labeled First Years.

"Just head straight to the bed and draw the curtains," Harry whispered to her. She nodded and they headed in. Ascella plopped onto Harry's bed and drew the curtains around her. Then she pulled out her wand and performed a quick spell. When Harry drew the curtains and crawled in Ascella was already under the covers, grateful to be in a bed. After a moment Harry turned to her.

"Why is my bed bigger than it was, but only from in here?" he asked confused. Ascella smiled into the pillow, half asleep already.

"Undetectable extension charm. It's what I've been using on my bag so it'll hold all my stuff. Haven't worked out the feather light spell to help with the heaviness yest but I'm sure I'll get it," she said sleepily. "Now shut it Potter. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in a week." Harry muttered something about being ungrateful but he quieted down. Ascella fell asleep smiling.


	4. Chapter 4

**a/n obviously if you recognize it it isn't mine! Enjoy!**

October 1991

September turned into October and before any of them knew it Halloween had arrived. When Ascella saw Harry enter the Great Hall at breakfast, she couldn't help but wonder if he knew that today was the day his parents had died, and the day before her father had murdered all those innocent people. Not that she'd ever tell him, it was bad enough it was bringing her down she didn't need to bring someone else down. Besides Ascella didn't talk about her parents; ever.

She was sitting next to Terry Boot at breakfast. It was thanks to him she hadn't had to spend another night sneaking in and out of Harry's dorm. She'd spent more nights there in the past month than in her own bed. She felt bad but every time she crawled into Harry's bed after hours he merely moved over, never once complaining. Somehow they'd managed to keep it a secret from everyone except for Ron. He'd thought it was a bit strange at first but had gotten on board quickly enough when he realized it meant that she didn't have to leave the Gryffindor common room at curfew. Of course McGonagall had caught her in the common room after hours a few times and had given her detention a few more times but after she kicked her out Ascella always snuck back in; after all it wasn't like she was going to get back into her own common room.

Harry spotted Ascella and grinned at her. He said something to Ron who continued on to the Gryffindor table, and headed towards her. He slipped into the empty seat on her other side and gave her a half hug. She leaned into him and placed her head on his shoulder. Boot looked sideways at them before continuing his conversation about the Halloween decorations with Goldstein.

"Happy Halloween," Ascella said to Harry.

"Happy Halloween," he replied cheerily, grabbing some toast. "Hagrid's pumpkins are great aren't they?"

"Fantastic! He must have been feeding them something amazing for them to get so big," she replied taking a bite of his toast. He pushed her off, glaring as she cackled.

"Get your own toast," he said. "And as for what he's been 'feeding' them, I'm pretty sure it's hidden in his umbrella," Harry said wiggling his eyebrows knowingly.

"Only Hagrid," Ascella rolled her eyes fondly, helping herself to a piece of Harry's bacon.

"Oy!" he said poking her in the side.

"Your's tastes better," she said sweetly, her lips parting in a smile. "Remind me what you've got today?" Harry listed off his classes but she only jumped on the one. "Charms?" she asked excitedly. "Oh we had it yesterday, it's ever so much fun, you actually get to try levitating!" Harry viewed her playfully.

"Wow excited are we Cells? About a _class_ hmm? Maybe you are a real Ravenclaw," he mused.

"Oh stuff it," she said but she was still pleased. She'd come to terms with the fact that while she may never be able to enter the Ravenclaw tower on her own, and she may never obsess over learning like some of her classmates, that despite all this she really was a good fit for Ravenclaw. Well it worked anyway, she had the brains that they valued so maybe it was more that it was the best fit since she hadn't wanted Gryffindor.

"Besides I was the only one in the class to get it right," she said arrogantly to Harry.

Harry snorted at her. "Of course you were. Weren't you doing it weeks ago when we'd just begun the theory."

"Yes, but that's not the point," she said raising a finger as Harry scoffed at her. "The point is that Flitwick was very impressed with me."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "But isn't everyone?" he asked innocently.

"I'm glad you asked. Yes, yes they are."

"You have to be the most arrogant person I have ever met."

"I prefer confident, but you know tomato, tamoto." Harry rolled his eyes fondly.

Later at lunch Ascella slide in next to Harry.

"Um why is Granger crying in the girls lavatory?" she asked tentatively. Harry and Ron looked guilty. Ascella deflated. She'd been hoping it hadn't been because of them. They proceeded to tell her what had happened in Charms that morning.

She grimaced.

"Tactful Ron. Real tactful," she said when they'd finished.

"Yeah well you're one to talk," Ron replied hotly but his tone was filled with guilt too so she let it go and responded softer than she normally would have.

"Yeah but at least when I insult someone I mean to do it and I do it to their face," she replied.

"She has a point," Harry said diplomatically. He shut up quick though when he saw the look Ron was giving him.

At the feast Granger still hadn't appeared. Ascella was about to head to the Gryffindor table to confer with Harry about it, when she felt someone tugging her in the opposite direction.

"Not so fast Black," Aaron said as he and Kevin dragged her towards the Ravenclaw table. "Tonight you celebrate with us." She pouted at them but gave in. She could always grab Harry after the feast. It really had been awhile since she'd spent a meal with Kevin and Aaron. They were always good for a laugh and good company in class besides.

"Good to see you," Boot smiled at her when she was sat down across from him by Aaron. She grinned back.

"I was kidnapped," she admitted as Kevin and Aaron slide in on either side of her. Padma, who'd been sitting on Boot's left, laughed meeting Ascella's eyes and rolling her's as if to say " _boys_."

The rest of the meal was spend in laughter, chatter, and stuffing all of their faces with the amazing Hogwarts Halloween feast. Unfortunately all the merriment disappeared and was replaced with panic when Professor Quirrell announced there was a troll in the dungeons. Dumbledore promptly told the prefects to escort their houses back to their common rooms. Ascella was halfway up the marble staircase when she remembered.

"Hermione!" she said and before her classmates could grab her she was gone. She caught up with the Gryffindor's and yanked Harry and Ron out of the crowd.

"Bloody he-" Ron started but she cut him off with a breathless "Hermione," looking pointedly at Harry. His eyes widened in understanding.

"Hermione what?" Ron said confused.

"She doesn't know about the troll," Harry answered for her. Ron's eyes too widened in shock.

"We have to find her," he said. The three of them managed to slip away undetected from the rest of the Gryffindor's. When they ran into Snape they wondered why it was that he wasn't with the other teacher's searching the dungeons and started to follow him.

It was also around then that they noticed the most revolting smell ever. They looked to their right and saw a huge, lumbering, stinky troll.

"I guess it's not in the dungeon anymore," Ascella said weakly. Beside her Harry and Ron shook their heads.

"What's it doing?" Ron finally asked as the troll lumbered through an open doorway.

"No idea, but quick!" Harry called darting forward. Ascella and Ron followed and helped to slam the door shut, locking it as they did so.

Panting they were congratulating each other on a good job when they heard it; an ear splitting scream and it was coming from behind the door they'd just closed. Looking horrified at each other they rushed back. Yanking the door open they discovered that they'd inadvertently locked the troll in the girls lavatory that Hermione had been in. The troll was currently trying to pummel Hermione with its club. Ascella, Harry, and Ron pulled their wands out but none of them knew any spells to use against a fully grown mountain troll, but they had to get the troll away from Hermione somehow. They started shouting at the troll, Ron even threw a pipe at its head. That did the trick and the troll turned to face the three of them.

Harry seeing Ron was now the subject of the troll's attention launched himself on the back of the troll. As he flailed about on the troll's back Ascella began trying to clear a path for Hermione to safely get out, until the troll begins stamping around in annoyance at the first year boy on his back, almost stepping on Hermione. Abruptly Harry's wand went up the trolls nose, further angering the troll. Then just as Ascella was about to shoot whatever jinx she knew at the troll she saw Hermione instructing Ron in the proper swish and flick method. Ron shockingly proceeded to execute a perfect wingardium leviosa on the troll's own club. The club dropped and landed on the trolls head with a sickening crunch.

The troll fell to the ground and Harry come down with it.

"Are you alright?" Ascella asked Harry breathlessly, helping him to his feet.

"Yeah," Harry said taking her hand. "Are you?" he turned to ask Hermione. She nodded. The four of them turned to look at the troll.

"Is it - is it dead?" Hermione asked quietly.

"No I think just knocked out," Harry said bending over it. He retrieved his wand from the troll's nostril. "Ugh. Troll bogey's," he said wiping his wand on his robes. It was at that moment that Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell came rushing into the bathroom. The foursome froze knowing they are about to get into some serious trouble. Instead Ascella, Harry, and Ron watched in shock as Hermione blatantly lied to a teacher. She was sent away in shame a moment later having lost five points for Gryffindor.

McGonagall turned to the rest of them then and grudgingly awarded them each five points before sending them off to bed. Ascella went with Harry and Ron to their common room, knowing full well that with everyone already in her tower that she'd never get in on her own.

Hermione was waiting for them in the common room. Upon seeing Hermione waiting there Ascella grinned. She and the boys thanked Hermione for covering them and Hermione thanked them for saving her and like that Ascella knew they'd just befriended the Gryffindor bookworm.


	5. Chapter 5

**a/n again I own nothing, you recognize it and it is JK's**

November 1991

Quidditch season had arrived. And with it came all the excitement and pressure to do well. Harry especially was having a hard time. It had soon become clear to the foursome that despite Wood trying to keep Harry a secret, that half the school knew or suspected he was on the team. People none of them had met kept coming up to Harry and either telling him he'd be brilliant or telling him he was going to fall off his broom. More often than not Ascella hexed the later ones. Ascella even swore McGonagall had turned a blind eye when she'd laid into a 5th year Slytherin.

On the day of the match Ascella was walking down to breakfast with a nervous Harry. His tossing and turning had kept her awake most of the night, but she hadn't complained. Given between what he'd told them the night before about Snape, in particular Snape's three headed dog bite, his suspicions that Snape was after what the dog was guarding, and his nerves for the his first Quidditch game, Ascella couldn't really find it in herself to be annoyed.

Since Halloween Ascella had been able to spend some nights with Hermione in the girls dormitory. She even had a mattress under Hermione's bed and some spare robes in her trunk, but not wanting to admit just how often she got locked out she still found solace in Harry's dorm. Besides he was her best friend and she felt more comfortable there.

"Distract me Cells," Harry whispered to her in a strangled voice as they walked.

"Right. Well did I tell you who's been partnering me in Herbology recently?" she asked casting around for something distracting worthy.

"No," Harry shook his head.

"Zabini," Ascella said darkly. "He's been joining Morag, Entwhistle and I at our Jumping Beans plant. It's awful. I mean it's not like he says anything per say and you'd think since he doesn't get on real well with the likes of Malfoy and that crowd that he'd be alright, but then you realize its not cause he's any different, it's because he's a right prick! He doesn't get on with anyone; thinks he's better than everyone. I honestly don't get why he chooses _my_ group to join. The other day I tried to slip one of the jumping beans into his robes but Sprout spotted me. For some strange reason she didn't believe me when I said it was an accident."

When they slide onto the Gryffindor bench for breakfast Harry looked mildly better. Hermione and Ron joined them shortly after. Harry even managed to eat some toast before Seamus Finnegan assured Harry that seekers always got beat up the most during a Quidditch match. Ascella shot daggers at him; he shied away but the damage was done. Harry refused to touch his plate after that, even with Hermione's gentle encouragement.

Soon after Harry was instructed to head down to the pitch with the rest of the Gryffindor team. They wished Harry luck ("Beat those damn snakes! I want to have something to gloat about to Zabini in Herbology!) but he barely acknowledged them. A short while later Ascella walked down to the pitch with Hermione and Ron. She was unashamedly sporting Gryffindor colors and sat in the Gryffindor section.

To say the game was exciting would be a vast understatement. It was probably the most intense game of Quidditch Ascella had ever watched, between the blatant fouls, to Snape jinxing Harry's broom, to Harry almost swallowing the Golden Snitch to win the game for Gryffindor. Ascella spent most of the match yelling obscenities at the Slytherin players, biting her nails in worry for Harry, and screaming herself hoarse when Harry held up the snitch triumphantly.

Ascella, Hermione, Ron, and Hagrid ran onto the pitch at the end as well as half the school. They reached a grinning Harry and all hugged him tightly. Harry met her eyes and she knew he was feeling on top of the world. She grinned at him and he grinned stupidly happy back.

Later they found themselves seated down at Hagrid's for a cup of tea (but just tea though, they had all learned by this point not to accept anything Hagrid had cooked; Ascella and Ron had almost broken teeth when they'd tried one of his aptly named rock cakes).

Once the Quidditch talk died down, the trio told Hagrid of their suspicions about Snape, while Ascella nursed the last of her tea. It wasn't that she wasn't suspicious of Snape, it was no secret that he hated both her and Harry and the feeling was mutual, it was just that she felt they didn't have all the facts yet. She'd told Harry this on multiple occasions, but this had only made him more determined than ever to find all the facts, if only to prove her wrong.

Things got interesting when Hagrid revealed that the three headed dog had a name. Ascella almost spit out the tea she was swallowing.

"Fluffy?" Ron said incredulous. "That _thing_ has a name?"

"Not to mention that the name is _Fluffy_!" Ascella added.

Hagrid, realizing that he shouldn't have revealed that, then tried to do damage control, telling them that Snape was one of the people protecting the item. Amid protests he revealed that a man named Nicolas Flamel was involved. Ascella could swear the name sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't place it.

Hagrid kicked them out a short while later. Ascella walked back with the trio whispering furiously to each other. She walked along next to them thinking. At the fifth floor she bid them good-bye saying she needed to go to Ravenclaw tower. Harry looked up disappointed but he let her go.

On the way she ran into Terry Boot. He saw her coming and slowed a smile on his face.

"Fancy seeing you in this part of the castle," he teased. Ascella just smiled in answer. They made easy conversation as they headed back to their common room. Boot had been on his way back from the library, but he had gone to the Quidditch match earlier that day. His intense interest in the conversation caused Ascella to realize that Boot was as avid a Quidditch fan as any of them. And she'd thought he hadn't any interests outside of school. She really shouldn't have been surprised though, everyone loved Quidditch and everyone was more than met the eye.

Boot easily answered the riddle correctly and they entered the common room together. Ascella bid Boot good bye and headed to her dorm. What she really wanted was a nice shower and a quiet night in her own bed. The first one was easy to come by but the second wasn't going to be. Apparently the girls of her dorm had decided to have a girls night, one where they painted each others nails and stayed up late doing whatever girls did at sleepovers. Pillow fights, gossip, Ascella didn't know nor did she really want to find out. Padma had been kind enough to invite her but she'd declined. Instead she grabbed her favorite blanket and book and headed to the common room.

Ascella normally loved noise, and loved finding things to entertain herself, whether it was pranking someone or a rousing game of exploding snap, but sometimes she got into moods where she just wanted quiet. They would come on her unexpectedly and could last anywhere from an hour to a week. She hadn't had one since she'd come to Hogwarts but this one had been lurking since Halloween. Ascella had always been good at hiding her true emotions behind a mask of perfection and indifference, but in these moods she was shorter of temper and just wanted to be left alone.

Meda had always said it was this part of her personality, beyond even the mischief and quick tongue, that had always reminded her most of Sirius. It was at these times Ascella would catch her whispering to Ted, "She's so much like him. I didn't know how to help him and I don't know how to help her." Ascella knew Meda worried she was depressed but she knew it wasn't as simple as that. Sometimes being quiet didn't have to mean anything aside from being quiet.

Of course thinking about that only made Ascella angry and upset. She hated that she was so much like _him_ ; her no good murdering father. Why did it have to be him she inherited her personality from? Why couldn't everyone tell her how much she was like Marlene? Sure she looked just like her mother, except for her eyes, but no one ever told her how much she acted like her. In fact no one ever talked to her about her mother. She knew nothing except that she'd been a McKinnon, that she'd loved a murderer, and that she was dead.

Ascella felt a single tear slide down her cheek as she stared into the fire, her book completely forgotten. She'd just wiped it away angrily when she felt more than saw Terry Boot sit down across from her.

"Hey," he said. "Are you okay?" She met his caring brown eyes and smiled weakly nodding.

"I'm good," she assured him. He looked like he didn't believe her but let it slide.

"Okay," he said. "Anyway I just came to tell you that Potter is outside the door and he'd like to see you."

"Harry's here?" she asked sitting up surprised. Boot nodded.

"Do you want me to tell him to leave?" he asked.

"No! I'll go see what he wants. Thanks Boot," she said sincerely grasping his arm as she passed him, her blanket falling from the couch. Boot nodded but she was already past him.

At the door she made sure to not let it close as she didn't plan on getting locked out tonight. Then she turned to Harry. He met her eyes concerned.

"What are you doing here Harry?" Ascella asked quietly.

"Looking for you. You didn't seem yourself earlier. Well you were and then you weren't," he corrected, shuffling his feet awkwardly. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright." Ascella felt touched. She also felt a little of her normal self creep in. She leaned against the open door and crossed her arms.

"You know I'm allowed to be quiet sometimes," she said teasingly but Harry caught the undercurrent of seriousness in her tone. He was starting to get good at reading the emotions that she tried to hide behind her mask.

"I know," he said meeting her eyes. "I guess I just wanted to know if you wanted to talk about it?" She shook her head slowly. She didn't talk about how she needed to be quiet and how it always made her think about her parents. "Or not talk about it," Harry continued. "Either way I wanted you to know you could do either with me if you wanted company." Ascella felt tears well in her eyes. Aside from Dora she'd never come close to having a friend as good as Harry. She knew that she wasn't ready to talk about her problems with him but she knew that one day she might. And so she took the first step towards letting someone in and nodded.

"I'd like that," she said her throat tight and she pulled Harry into her common room. "Not talking with you would be nice." And so it was. They spent the rest of the evening on the couch by the fire, her feet in Harry's lap enjoying the companionable silence, and unspoken understanding between the two. They may not have spoken but Harry's presence kept her confusion about her parents at bay and put her in a better mood. And so when Harry left she was able to go back to her dormitory and partake in the rest of girls night.

Padma painted her nails a pretty blue and told her how jealous all the girls were of her gorgeous blond hair. Mandy jokingly added that they all secretly hated her because she was twelve and was already by far the prettiest girl in school. Ascella blushed. She'd always been told how pretty she was but she'd never really ever tried to make herself that way, she just was. She had thick brown eyelashes despite having golden blond tresses and rosy lips, but she'd never felt particularly pretty.

She denied it and countered with how the two of them were really much prettier. They rolled their eyes as Sue Li and Beth Vance threw pillows at Ascella, telling her to shut up. Ascella was surprised; she'd thought of Li and Vance as nice girls. But then she saw their smiles and they all started laughing. And Ascella realized it was nice, they were nice, and it was nice being here with them.


	6. Chapter 6

**a/n not mine! You recognize it and it's JK's!**

December 1991

With the end of November and the beginnings of December the first years began to look forward to a well deserved break. Christmas spirit was alive and well, the Weasley twins had even charmed the suits of armor to loudly sing Christmas carols when anyone walked by. Peeves of course decided to hide in the ones they hadn't charmed and proceeded to sing the most vulgar version of classic Christmas songs he could think of. Ascella found this all rather amusing, in particular when she saw a frazzled Professor McGonagall chasing a cackling Peeves away from the suit of armor closest to her classroom.

The weather had tuned cold and everyone was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the holiday break. Ascella and her friends hadn't found anything out about Nicolas Flamel despite spending many of their breaks searching the library. At the first session Ascella had showed up to (she had honestly never been to the library before and had gotten quite lost on the way there), she'd seen their frustrated expressions and had asked dryly if anyone had bothered to check the biography section. Hermione had reacted less than pleased, so Ascella had taken that as a no and scuttled over to that section, lest she annoy her friend further.

When Ascella had reached the F's however she noticed that the books didn't seem to flow together as tightly as the rest of the library books, almost as if someone had removed or checked out all the books in the section where Flamel would have been. That was strange, Ascella thought but she headed back to the table where Harry was currently staring glazed eyed at a book about dark wizards and their contributions to society. Ron didn't look much better, but Hermione looked like she was in her element, her eyes zooming across the pages of the books she had in front of her. Ascella sighed and grabbing a book off of Harry's stack sank into the chair next to him.

Despite all their hard work they didn't find a thing. Hermione suggested the restricted section but they had no excuse that would be teacher approved to get them in there, so Ascella put it out of her mind.

Just over a week before the end of term, the Deputy Headmistress, more commonly known as Minnie to Ascella, came around requesting sign-ups for those wishing to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays. Harry, Ron, and the rest of the Weasley clan would be signing up, but Hermione and Ascella would be headed home.

Harry and Ascella were in the library, doing more research while Hermione attended a Charms club meeting and Ron had begged off saying he had something else to do. Ascella was beginning to think Ron had had the right idea when Harry turned to her and asked, "Are you going home for the holidays?" She stretched, working a kink out of her neck.

"Yes. I don't think anyone at home would forgive me if I didn't," she said smiling. Harry looked away lost in thought. She couldn't tell what he was thinking about, if he wished she was staying or if he wished he had somewhere to go that wasn't the Dursley's. She knew the Dursley's weren't the best people to have been raised by.

"Do you miss them?" Harry finally asked still looking out the window where snowflakes gently fell to the ground. "Your parents I mean?"

"Er," she replied. She still hadn't exactly told Harry she was more or less an orphan like he was. Most people just knew the story and so she didn't have to say it and it had been nice with Harry not having that hanging over her head. They had had a lot of conversations about their home lives but she'd managed to tell her stories in such a way that she didn't have to talk about her parents. Rarely did she feel guilty about it, but there was something about the way that Harry had asked his question, the longing perhaps, that was making her insides squirm.

"Well yeah," she finally replied lamely. "Of course I miss my family," she continued. "And it'll be nice to see them and all, but I don't know. The castle kind of feels like home now, you know? I'll miss all you lot."

Harry turned to her smiling. "Yeah it does, doesn't it?" he said referring to the castle.

"Yeah," Ascella agreed, smiling back, glad that she'd managed to cheer him up.

"I'll miss you too you know," he whispered five minutes later, once they'd gone back to their research.

"I know," she smiled into her book.

A week later Ascella was hugging Hermione good-bye and walking into the open arms of Nympadora Tonks, on platform 9 and 3/4. Dora was like a sister to her and she was happy to see her.

"Oh I missed you so much!" Dora said squeezing her tight. Ascella noticed her hair was a shocking red this time, as she pulled back laughing at her, most likely for the holidays.

"I missed you too!" she replied. Then looking around she asked, "Where are Meda and Ted?"

"Waiting to welcome you to the house. I told them I'd pick you up since I missed you so much! That and today is my first day of holiday break from Auror training, so it made sense for me to just get you on the way home."

"Oh how is training going?" Ascella asked eagerly as she dragged her trunk behind them.

Dora made a face. "It's both the most amazing thing ever and the hardest. Mad-Eye really doesn't go easy on you, but I guess it makes sense considering what the job entails. I just wish he'd stop popping up randomly and shouting 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE!'" Ascella giggled when Dora actually shouted the last part and got a bunch of weird looks from the muggles around them. Granted her owl was probably causing them to turn in puzzlement as well.

"So how are we getting home," Ascella asked when they'd exited the station.

"Knight Bus," Dora said waving her wand to flag the bus down. "Bought the tickets last night."

A moment later and the purple triple decker bus was pulling up in front of them. They clamored on and were soon banging about the country en route to the cottage they had both been raised in.

Ascella spent the trip informing Dora of what had been happening to her over the course of her first term at Hogwarts. They'd written letters to each other but some stories were better shared in person.

"Sorry about the tower situation, but it sounds like you found some really good friends!" Dora said after Ascella had told her about her troubles with getting into her home tower.

"Yeah I did. And I didn't get put in Gryffindor like you all thought!" Ascella said triumphantly. Dora shook her head and tried to hide her smile.

"No. No you didn't."

The welcome when she got home was jubilant. Both Dora and Ascella were drawn into big rib cracking hugs by both Meda and Ted. Ted even spun Ascella around and commented on how much she'd grown in the months they'd been apart. She rolled her eyes fondly, walking into the house with their arms thrown around each other. No Meda and Tonks may not be her parents and Dora may not be her sister, but she loved them and they loved her and for Ascella that was more than she could ever hope for.


	7. Chapter 7

**a/n not mine. You know the drill: recognize it it is JK's**

January 1992

"What the?" Ascella shot up out of bed. Harry had just hit her. She turned to glare at him, when she realized he was still asleep and he didn't appear to be dreaming about sunshines and rainbows. In fact it appeared he was having some sort of nightmare. He was twitching and thrashing about his face screwed up in discomfort. It was scaring her.

She leaned forward and grabbed his shoulder shaking him. "Harry! Wake up! You're having a nightmare," she whisper-yelled at him. He woke with a start sitting up, his eyes wide, the pupils dilated making his green eyes look black.

His eyes frantically found hers.

"Harry, it's okay it was just a nightmare," she said hurriedly, trying to calm him down. The sheets were tangled around the two of them and he was breathing heavily, sweat glistening on his brow. "Just a nightmare," she repeated gently placing her hands on his upper arms and rubbing circles there, like Meda used to do when she'd been little. Harry nodded and she felt the tension slowly leaving his muscles as his breathing returned to normal. When he met her eyes again she was glad to see the green again.

"Sorry," he mumbled to her, looking embarrassed. Ascella shook her head.

"Don't be. Do you want to talk about it? That didn't look like a normal nightmare," she said. Harry shook his head, before looking down at the bed spread. He began playing absently with a loose string. Ascella let her arms fall to her side as she waited. She had a feeling he did want to talk about it; he just needed a moment so she gave it to him. Finally he spoke.

"You know how I told you about that mirror I found?"

Ascella nodded. When she'd gotten back on Sunday he had filled her in on all that had happened while he and Ron had been at the castle; about the invisibility cloak (Ascella was quite excited about this as it made sneaking out of Harry's dorm in the morning much less problematic), finding the mysterious Mirror of Erised, seeing his parents and family (she had physically choked up at this point, half upset for her friend and half wondering if she would see something similar), and about the chat with Professor Dumbledore (she had found this both amusing and impressive, it wasn't everyday one got to chat with the famous Albus Dumbledore).

"Well ever since then, I've - I've been sort of having these, dreams I guess, about -" Harry paused to take a shaky breath. "About my parents murder." He finished voice trembling.

Ascella felt a tear race down her cheek. "Oh Harry," she said. "I'm so sorry." She reached out for him and pulled him into a hug. He buried his face in her hair. Ascella felt like what she'd said was a vast understatement for the moment. She didn't know how to help him but she knew that she was sorry. She was sorry that such a good person should have to grow up without parents who would have loved him as he deserved, she was sorry that she couldn't do more for him other than be there when he needed it but most of all she was sorry she couldn't share this.

She was angry too. Angry at Voldemort for taking her friends parents from him, angry at the world for allowing things like this to happen, and angry that he'd had to be raised by people who would never love him. Ascella may have not been raised by her parents, she may be half an orphan, but at least she'd had a childhood full of love, laughter, and comfort; at least she'd had a home before Hogwarts. And that was when Ascella realized that maybe in a way she could share this with Harry; at the very least she could share a story.

And so when they had both laid back down, looking up at the red curtained ceiling of the four poster Ascella began speaking, her voice soft and emotionless.

"There once was a little girl named Ascella Marlene Black. She was born in the middle of the war against Voldemort. The summer before the girls second birthday her mother and her entire mother's family were murdered by the followers of the Dark Lord.

"Later that July night, a man stumbled into a dark house, a bundle in his arms. It was his cousin's house, the only place he could think of; the death of his beloved had made it clear there was a traitor in their midst. Light illuminated the hall then, a single bulb swinging dangerously.

"A woman stood at the top of the stairs, her wand pointing at the man. The man begged her to take the bundle, saying it was the only way he could keep his daughter safe. The woman nodded. She took the bundle and the man left as suddenly as he had arrived. The woman pulled back the blanket, and when she made eye contact with the silent, grey-eyed infant staring back at her, she fell in love and knew she would protect this child with her life." Ascella paused the room silent except for the sound of Ron's snoring. Ascella took a deep breathe "Or at least that's what I've been told."

Ascella could feel tears flowing down her cheeks but her tone had remained emotionless, despite the lump that had grown in her throat. Harry took her hand and squeezed it. She squeezed his back. Then swallowing she continued speaking, but more earnestly now.

"Meda and Ted aren't my parents. Nor is Dora my sister," she confessed. "Technically we are cousin's of some relation, second or otherwise I've never quite been able to figure it out. No, they aren't my parents, so I understand what it's like to wonder about what wasn't, what could have been, but I do know that they are my family and I love them.

"I don't exactly know what all of this has to do with you now except that family doesn't always mean blood, Harry, and I know I can't help you or change the past no matter how much I want to but I can tell you that you aren't alone anymore, you'll never be alone again. I know none of us can replace your parents but we, Ron, Hermione, me, we are your family now. Don't forget that."

Harry squeezed her hand again and said in a sincere but strangled voice, "Thank you."

It was a long time before either of them fell asleep both lost in their own thoughts, but they both knew something had shifted this night. Their relationship had deepened to a level it hadn't been at before. They trusted each other explicitly, they had shared secrets from the darkest places of their hearts, sure there were still others lingering there but one day they could and would be shared. Whether she'd wanted to or not Ascella had let someone in, let someone see beyond the mask and there was no going back, so she snuggled closer to her friend and soon the two of them were snoring softly, for the night at least, at peace with the world.

A few weeks later Ascella was in the Gryffindor common room actually working on an assignment with Harry, Ron, and Hermione for once when Neville stumbled through the portrait hole.

He stumbled because his legs were locked together from groin all the way to his feet.

"Oh Neville!" Hermione had cried rushing forward to help the poor boy.

Ascella and Ron looked at each other dumbfounded while Harry asked what had happened. All of their faces soon colored with rage at hearing what Malfoy had done.

"That complete git," Ascella hissed between her teeth as Hermione performed the counter curse and Ron told Neville he really did need to start standing up for himself more. Neville hung his head in shame but looked grateful for their support nonetheless. He even offered them the last of his Christmas chocolate frogs. It was as Ascella was cursing her misfortune at having gotten another Merlin that Harry let out an exclamation of excitement.

"What?" Ascella asked. "I swear to Merlin if you got Gwenog Jones I am going to..."

"No! Dumbledore!" Harry said his eyes bright with excitement. Ascella sat back

"Oh. Well that's not very exciting," she said. "I've got like ten of him and I swear they've figured out how to communicate to one another..." Harry glared at her.

"Would you just listen?" Ascella held her hands up in surrender. And so he read from the card. Ascella felt a buzz of excitement build in her stomach at the mention of Nicolas Flamel and then the Sorcerer's Stone.

"So that's it then," she said eyes wide. "That's what Snape is after. That's what Fluffy is guarding."

Harry looked at her, his eyes just as excited.

"But why?"

"Oh that's easy," Ascella replied. "It's because..." but she was cut off by Hermione's squeak of excitement and rushed words telling them she'd be back. Ascella sighed.

"Where'd she go?" Harry asked.

"To get her copy of Hogwarts, A History. No doubt she's just remembered as I did that it's mentioned in there. I could tell you what it says but I'll let her have the satisfaction of telling you."

And tell them she did. The foursome proceeded to not get anymore homework done that night instead talking together in hushed voices about all they'd learned. In the end they were only able to conclude that Snape could never get this weapon even if they didn't have any clue as to why he would want it exactly. They agreed to keep further watch and wait to act until they knew more.


	8. Chapter 8

**a/n You recognize it then it's Rowlings**

May 1992

"Well, it looks better," Ascella tried to say enthusiastically. "At the very least it doesn't smell anymore." Ascella was visiting Ron in the Hospital Wing. He'd been there for the past three days, ever since Norbert, Hagrid's illegal dragon, had bit him. In truth his bite did look a bit better but it was still gruesome. Two days ago, Ascella hadn't even been able to be in the same room as Ron without wanting to lose her lunch. She wasn't a fan of pus. Or oozing. Or the smell of putrid flesh.

Ron made a face at her. "Do you think it'll scar?" he asked looking a bit nervous about this.

"Probably," Ascella said unconcerned. "But that'll just make you look tougher." This at least seemed to cheer him up. He then asked where Hermione and Harry were.

"Finalizing the plan with Hagrid for how to get Norbert out of the castle. The man is inconsolable. But it has to go now that Malfoy knows," Ascella replied. Ron's face darkened.

"Git," he said.

"Yes, but at least we're getting rid of the dragon."

"Yeah and good riddance. I lost all sympathy for the thing, and Hagrid, when it bit me. Mind you I never had much sympathy for the dragon." Ascella nodded sympathetically. She'd thought the whole affair had been doomed to fail from the beginning and was almost glad Malfoy had been snooping around where he shouldn't have been. Like Ron had said at least the fire breathing monster was headed out of their lives and on his way to Romania with Ron's brother Charley.

"Well I'd best be off," Ascella said checking her watch. "I told Padma I'd meet her for dinner and I'm already late." She patted his good arm reassuringly. "Feel better, yeah?" Ron nodded in thanks and she headed out.

Dinner with Padma was uneventful if still fun. It had turned out that she and Padma got on well and had more in common than just disliking Turpin. By far her best friend was Boot but as Ascella's best friend was Harry and Hermione wasn't exactly a social girl, they had gravitated towards one another for the pleasures of girl talk and to have someone to roll their eyes with when the other girls in their dorm were being overly dramatic. Padma was a no nonsense type girl just like Ascella. It was one of her favorite things about the girl.

Half-way through dinner, Ascella spotted a worn down looking Harry and Hermione enter the Great Hall. Ascella figured the consoling had most likely taken a lot out of them. Harry gave her a weak smile as he passed. She bet he was both nervous and excited for tonight. Nervous about getting caught and excited about passing Norbert off.

After dinner Ascella told Padma and Terry to head on up. She wanted to check in with Harry. She walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down between Harry and Dean Thomas.

"How's Hagrid?" Ascella said lowly.

"About as well as you can imagine," Harry replied just as lowly. Hermione leaned in from across the table to listen as well. "You'd think it was his child the way he goes on about it." Ascella grimaced.

"He does know that dragon's are impossible to domesticate, right?" Ascella said. Harry shook his head unknowing.

"How's Ron? Harry said you were going to visit," Hermione asked.

"He's hanging in there. I think the Hospital Wing is getting a bit boring for him, but he's glad the demon is leaving. The bite looks marginally better," she replied.

"It must be better if you were able to be in the room for any length of time," Harry said, smirking at her. She scowled at him.

"Oi! It was one time! And I didn't actually retch, just you know, gagged a bit." Harry nodded, eyebrows raised in bemusement, unconvinced.

"Whatever," she said giving up, but she was amused nonetheless. "So what are we up to this lovely Saturday evening before your great adventure?"

"I dunno," Harry said. "Want to play some wizard's chess?"

"Yes alright. Even though I know you only want to play me because you know you'll win." He grinned. Ascella was awful at wizard's chess. She just didn't have the patience for it. Give her a card game any day over chess but Harry and Ron enjoyed it and she had to admit watching the little pieces destroy each other was rather fun.

"Still can't believe you managed to wiggle your way out of helping," Harry said finishing the last of his pudding, referring to the "great adventure".

"Yes, well, I think McGonagall might actually kill me if she catches me in the wrong place after hours ever again. I already have enough detentions from her for the times she's caught me in your common room after hours. I think I've seen the inside of her office more than I have Flitwick's and he's my head of house."

"And yet you keep getting caught," Harry hedged innocently, rising with Hermione to head to the Gryffindor common room. Ascella knew that tone but chose to ignore it, rising to walk with them.

"Yes. I'm more just hoping one of these days she realizes the detentions aren't working and she'll just stop dropping in unexpectedly. And if I do say so myself I have already noticed a decrease in the frequency of her visits. Now if only the twins would stop creating such a ruckus all the time... I blame them for her frequent visits. Granted by this point you'd think they'd have driven her to never want to visit. Ever." Harry snorted and Hermione nodded in agreement.

"But you've more than made up for those detentions by being sassy in class," Harry told her, holding a tapestry for her, that hid a secret staircase that led up a few floors.

"Please. McG loves me." Harry stumbled on the stair he'd been trying to step on.

"McG?" he asked laughing.

"Yeah I'm still trying to decide between that or Minnie. I think right now I might be pushing my luck with her at the moment so Minnie might be a bit strong, McG seems to be a safer bet."

"Oh Ascella," Hermione said shaking her head.

"What? I already call Flitwick, Flitwicky. He finds it endearing."

Harry laughed but Hermione just continued shaking her head looking mildly horrified.

This wasn't anything knew as Hermione was often shaking her head at Ascella, but Hermione knew there wasn't anything she could do to tone down certain parts of Ascella's personality. She'd resorted to just trying to minimize the damage. She often didn't succeed, but that was okay because for every detention Ascella had had this year she'd talked herself out of at least triple the number she'd served. Teacher's also found it hard to punish her in class when she always knew the right answer and always got full marks on her homework assignments, tests, and quizzes, despite the fact that she did all essay's last minute and spent a quarter of the time on them that anyone else did and never studied.

"'Mione?" Ascella asked sweetly looking at her bushy haired friend. Hermione looked frightened. With a sly look at Harry she continued. "You know I love you, right?" Harry burst out laughing, knowing what she was doing. Ascella stepped on his toes. Hard. He stumbled, almost falling over, but he grabbed Ascella's robes to stabilize himself. This of course escalated into a shoving match and general rough housing, until both of them were on the floor in the middle of a seventh floor corridor.

Hermione tutted but she had a smile on her face and headed for the common room, leaving behind her goofy friends.

Eventually Harry and Ascella looked up and noticed Hermione had left. Ascella jumped up before Harry, running after her. The game must go on.

"Later Potter! I've got to catch my bestest friend 'Mione and tell her how much I love her!"

"Hey!" Harry called still on the floor in a heap. "I thought I was your best friend!" She stopped and darted back to him.

"Oh yeah," she smiled and held a hand out to help him up.

Harry brushed himself off. "Glad to see I can be forgotten so easily," he said aloofly, but Ascella could see the corners of his mouth fighting to not turn up in a smile. It was a teasing game that had begun in the past few months, where they pretended the other wasn't their best friend while they both knew better.

"Of course not Potter," she said linking arms with him and continuing on to the portrait hole. "Remind me again of your first name?" He shoved her away as she laughed. He soon joined her and they entered the portrait hole a moment later both still laughing.

Harry and Ascella played three games of chess before the thrill of watching as her pieces get destroyed by Harry's had worn off for Ascella and she'd had to tell Harry he could beat her again another night. Hermione had spent the time watching them and laughing at Ascella's outrage whenever she'd thought she'd tricked Harry but actually hadn't. Their chess matches were known for being entertaining. Fred and George had even stopped over sometime during game two and had proceeded to commentate the match in announcer voices to the enjoyment of those gathered around and to Ascella's growing frustration.

"And Black sends her knight forth to do battle with Harry's queen. Any comments on the wiseness of this move George?"

"Well Fred, she does need to make some sort of move here, she's only got a handful of pieces left, but if you are asking if I think that was the _best_ move? Honestly, no."

"George it looks like you were right! The sound you hear folks is Black's knight losing it's life to Harry's queen."

"Pity, pity, she really should have seen the trap Harry'd been setting."

It was about this point that Ascella had threatened the safety of both twins' manhoods and they had darted away cackling.

"She definitely is a lively one," Fred said to George while both grinned at her over their shoulders as they ran away.

"Heart of a lion that one," George continued.

"Too bad she'd got the brain of a raven," Fred said.

"It's an eagle!" she shouted at them in reference to her House's mascot, but this only made them laugh more. Harry meanwhile was shaking in silent laughter. "Shut it, Harry," she'd snapped at him. But that comment had just aided in his laughter and soon he was bend double roaring in laughter at her. His laughter was infectious and soon she was smiling and then laughing too.

Now that they'd finished with chess, Hermione and Harry began to get more and more nervous as midnight drew closer. Hermione couldn't even read. Around 11:30 the common room had thankfully emptied and Harry went up to retrieve his invisibility cloak. Ascella wished them luck as they disappeared under the cloak and settled in to wait.

She must have dosed off in the armchair in front of the fire, because when she hears the body slump into the chair next to hers she sits up with a start. Blearily she looked around and focused on an extremely distraught Harry slumped in the chair across from her.

"Harry? What's wrong? Where's Hermione?" Ascella asked concerned. She looked for Hermione but she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Bed. She and Neville both," he replied despondent. Ascella's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Wait - What? Neville? Harry, what the hell happened?" she asked again more urgently.

"We got caught," Harry said. Ascella's mouth dropped as he relayed the rest of the story in a hollow voice. About how they'd gotten Norbert to the tower and sent off alright but in their euphoria they'd forgotten the invisibility cloak only to be found by Filch moments later. When he got to the part about Neville and about how Neville now thinks they'd just been playing a prank on Malfoy that he'd gotten caught up in, she instantly felt a stab of sympathy for the boy. It wasn't like they could tell him what they'd really been up to.

"Poor Neville," she said. Harry nodded.

"It gets worse. She took 50 points from us. Each."

" _Each_?!" Ascella was astounded. It was unheard of. At her worst she'd only ever been deducted 20 points and that usually only happened when she got cheeky in Potions. She always got them back in Charms though.

"Yeah. And we all have detention."

"Well that's not so bad, really. The detention I mean. The points though... well you won't have just the Gryffindor's mad at you. The rest of the houses were hoping someone would finally knock Slytherin off their winning streak, and with Gryffindor in the lead it was looking possible."

"I know," Harry said miserably, sinking lower in the chair. "Tomorrow's going to awful."

"Yeah you're right. You should get some sleep though. Come on let's enjoy our last night of freedom." She rose and dragged Harry behind her up the stairs to the boys dormitory.

"Wait what do you mean 'our'," Harry asked.

"What you don't see how this affects me? I can't be friends with you until this blows over. The whole school's going to hate you and if it seemed I was siding with you they'll hate me too. You understand though."

Harry stopped on the stairs, just below the landing for his dorm. It wasn't until Ascella turned and he saw her smile that he realized she was joking.

"Damn it 'Cells," he said. He gave a small chuckle though so Ascella knew she'd made him feel at least a little better, just like she'd intended.

"Oh come on Harry. It would take more than a mere loss of points," Harry snorted at how caviler she'd put it, "to drive me away. Angering McG on the other hand... You've really put a chink in my time plan for introducing Minnie. You think she'll have cooled down by, say, our third year?"

"Probably," Harry replied grinning. "Come on," he said passing her to enter the room. "Let's go to bed." And so they did.


	9. Chapter 9

a/n again all thanks to JK Rowling, not mine in any way

June 1992

The beginning of June came and with it came exams, exams, exams. While most of the first years were freaking out about exams or studying like mad, Harry, Hermione, and Ron included, Ascella couldn't be bothered. She breezed through them with ease and had hardly cracked open a book once. Her fellow Ravenclaws in particular felt her lack of studying and stress was an offront to them and they hated that they knew she'd get the same if not better scores as they did. Even sweet Terry Boot had become short with her in the common room one night when she hadn't even been pretending to study, instead preferring to read from the animagus books Flitwick had let her check out from the restricted section the night before their potions final. Ascella had learned Flitwick was always guaranteed to sign a note for any Ravenclaw student because he felt "no knowledge should be restricted".

Ascella had needless to say been stunned and had guiltily mumbled an apology and took the book to the safety of her four poster. Hermione, in particular, was stressing out and Ascella had taken to avoiding her until after exams were over as she'd kept hounding her on her study habits every time she saw her. This unfortunately meant that Ascella hadn't seen much of Harry either but he was stressed too so she hadn't minded spending more time in her home tower.

And then finally exams were over and everyone could breathe again. Harry and Ascella spent the afternoon talking and lounging down by the lake while students around them swam and lounged about enjoying the good weather and freedom from exams. She even spotted the twins and their friend Lee Jordan trying to tickle the giant squid.

Ascella and Harry were joined by Ron and Hermione around the time that Ascella noticed Padma, Sue Li, and Mandy going for a swim and she decided to leave her friends to join her fellow Ravenclaws. When she had gotten back she didn't see any sign of Harry, Ron, or Hermione. Shrugging she stayed with the Ravenclaws, who were much more pleasant to be around now that exams were over.

After dinner Ascella was dragged back to Ravenclaw tower by Kevin and Aaron with the explanation "You don't want to miss this!" And they were right. She had never seen the Ravenclaw common room more full or more festive and relaxed. There were snacks of all sorts, there were students setting up various jam sessions with their instruments, while some of the more artistic Ravenclaws had painted and charmed moving scenes of summer on the walls and drawn banners saying things like congratulations! Exams are over! while someone else had enchanted a bubble machine to lazily float multicolored bubbles all over the room that when popped smelled like flowers. All in all it was a wonderful little party to celebrate the end of exams and the beginning of summer.

Ascella smile stretched huge across her face, glad she'd let Aaron and Kevin drag her back to Ravenclaw tower instead of letting her go in search of Harry. She spent the rest of the evening with her fellow first year Ravenclaws, laughing with Kevin and Aaron, braiding flowers into each others hair with Padma, even tackling Terry and Aaron and forcing the boys to let them put flowers in their shaggy hair ("Aw Cella, they look so cute!" Padma had said laughing with Ascella while the boys had glared), and stuffing her face with the delicious baked goods that some of the older students had made. She went to bed full, happy and content.

She was much less content when she was shaken awake what felt like only minutes after she'd fallen asleep.

"'Was goin' on?" she said groggily. But she froze when she saw the three faces that were looking at her expectantly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in her dormitory and they looked frightened but determined. Ascella was instantly awake and out of bed pulling on her robes and grabbing her wand.

"What's going on?" Ascella whispered.

"We think Snape is going to steal the stone. Tonight. We'll explain the rest on the way," Hermione said tossing her a sock.

"Also how'd you get in here?" Ascella asked pausing mid sock pulling on to look critically at the Gryffindor's.

"Well the riddle really wasn't that hard -" Hermione started. Ascella scoffed. Of course Hermione could get in. Then she looked at the boys suspiciously as she tugged on her combat boots.

"How'd you get in here?" she asked them. They looked at her weirdly.

"Hermione answered the riddle," Ron said slowly like he was teaching an easy concept to a dim child. Rising, she waved him off and headed out the door.

"No, I mean how'd you get into the girls side of the dormitory? The Ravenclaw boys can't. The minute they get too close to the door they immediately remember something else they are supposed to do."

"Hmm," Harry frowned. "Maybe it only works on Ravenclaw boys. You know like they thought no body but Ravenclaws could even get into the tower so why bother." Ascella snorted and opened the door to her common room.

"Typical. Smartest house and we can't even get the door charm to the dormitories right because we are too arrogant to think that boys from other houses wouldn't be able to get in. Alright how are we getting there?" she asked turning to the group. The walls of the common room were still emitting a faint glow of sunshine and the bubble machine was weakly going in the corner.

Harry held up the invisibility cloak as explanation.

"Right. Makes sense. And what about Fluffy?" Harry held up a wooden flute.

"Hagrid told us today that Fluffy goes straight to sleep if you play music," he said by way of explanation.

"So that's where you disappeared to," she mused. "Alright let's go. You can explain the rest on the way."

They barely all fit under the cloak but once they'd made sure they couldn't be seen they headed off for the out of bounds third floor corridor. In hushed tones the three Gryffindors explained to Ascella how they'd figured out tonight was the night. Dumbledore was gone, Harry had put it together about Quirrel having broken to Snape and how when Snape had sold Hagrid the dragon's egg, Hagrid had shared the bit about Fluffy meaning that it was the perfect time to try and steal the stone. They explained how they had been trying to tail Snape or keep an eye on the cooridor but they'd been thwarted by Snape and McGonagall and so they'd decided to follow him in after dark. Harry then explained that they'd just needed to get her first.

"Well I'm glad you finally decided you'd ne-" Ascella began.

"Shh!" Harry cut her off a finger to his lips. "Peeves," he said pointing a head.

Sure enough Peeves came zooming around the corner. He couldn't see them but he'd heard them. He threatened to go get Filch when Harry had the brilliant idea to pose as the Bloody Baron, the only ghost Peeves feared enough to obey, in order to get him to leave them alone. When he finally zoomed off Ron said, "That was close."

"Agreed," Ascella said. "Nice thinking though Harry. Also Peeves is a strange one."

They made it the rest of the way undetected. Arriving at the door they found that it was already open. Harry attempted to tell them he could go on alone but the rest shut him up quick.

"You'd never make it alone Harry," Ascella said ending all discussion on the matter. Upon entering Ascella noticed a harp and a very much awake giant three-headed dog. Ascella swallowed.

"You might have mentioned just how _large_ Fluffy is," she said dryly staring up at the growling monster.

Harry didn't acknowledge this instead starting to play the flute. Soon the dog was snoring and the group tiptoed to the trap door. Harry kept playing while Ascella and Ron yanked the door open. They peered in but couldn't see where it led as it was pitch black.

"Well there's only one way to find out," Ascella said dropping in before the rest could stop her. Harry landed shortly after her, on the same squishy plant like thing that she had.

"Don't ever do that again," he said glaring at her. She grinned back at him unconcerned. Harry called up that it was okay. When Hermione had landed after Ron, Ascella realized she had been the one to keep playing the flute. She also realized that the squishy plant they'd landed in was alive and it was angry. She, Harry, and Ron were already ensnared by it but Hermione had managed to scramble to the side and out of the way of the tentacles.

"Hermione!" Harry shouted. "Do you know how to stop it!" Hermione started thinking furiously while Ascella struggled feeling the tentacles bite deeper into her flesh.

"Hurry, Hermione!" she called.

"Oh yes Devil's snare doesn't like fire!"

"Then light a fire!" Ron growled out.

"Oh but there's no wood!"

"Did she really just say that! Really?!" Ascella yelled unbelieving, at the same time as Harry desperately reminded her she was a witch and didn't need firewood.

Hermione pulled her wand from her robes and used it to start a fire. The vines retreated freeing Ascella, Harry, and Ron. Ascella rubbed her arms wincing, but they didn't have time to nurse wounds if they were going to catch Snape. They continued on down a passage way that reminded Ascella of underground Gringotts. She figured they must be miles beneath the castle. Soon they heard a weird fluttering noise coming from up ahead. They entered a room with birds flying above them and a door on the other side. They hurriedly crossed to the other side but found the door locked.

"Now what?" Ascella asked. Harry looked up.

"They're keys," he said. The other three looked up and realized he was right.

"Right and how do we get them?"

"Look!" Hermione said pointing to four broomsticks.

"Great," Ascella said sarcastically. "Now we just have to find the right one among thousands. Should take no time at all."

Ron snorted. Harry ignored her.

"There! Do you see that big old looking one? I'll bet that's it," he said. Ascella didn't see it but there was a reason Harry was seeker and when she tried out for her house team she'd go for chaser."Come on," Harry told them making for the brooms.

They all got on and joined Harry in the search. Ascella was a descent flier but she didn't have Harry's eyes or natural ability, so she, Ron and Hermione helped herd the key towards Harry. Soon he'd caught it and upon trying it in the door they headed into the next room.

"What is it?" Ascella asked stopping next to the other three, to look at the massive stone structures blocking the way across.

"It's a chess board," Ron answered. "I think we've got to play to get across." Ascella whistled.

"Well this just keeps getting better," Ascella said. Harry turned to her exasperated.

"What? If you didn't want my sarcasm you should have let me sleep."

"Like you wouldn't have killed me tomorrow if I'd left you behind. " Ascella grinned and didn't deny it.

They then proceed to play the most terrifying game of wizard's chess ever. They were lucky Ron was so good but it became obvious at the end what Ron would have to do in order for them to win. Harry almost moved off his square in protestation when Ron fell but Hermione reminded him he couldn't or they'd lose the game and let Snape get the stone. Ascella herself hadn't enjoyed seeing her friend knocked out and longed to go make sure he was okay as much as Harry. Harry moved instead to put the King in check mate and they won.

All three of them wasted no time in rushing to Ron's side.

"He's breathing," Hermione said thankfully. "Just looks knocked out. Look you two go on. I'll stay with Ron," she said looking to Harry and Ascella.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked. She nodded.

"If you aren't back in an hour, I'll go get help. Now hurry!" she urged them on. Ascella knew Harry didn't like leaving them behind, so Ascella grabbed his arm.

"She's right. We've got to catch Snape. We know he's in here. Maybe she'll be able to send for help." Harry nodded and they continued on after both hugging Hermione.

Shortly after they passed a giant troll that had been defeated. Ascella remarked how it was weird that a teacher who was as timid as Quirrell was could be so good with trolls.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Didn't you know? Quirrell has an affinity for trolls. Told us himself first day of class. I'd bet anything that was his test we just passed."

"How do you remember stuff like that?" Harry marveled as they passed through another doorway.

"Eh, if I hear something or see it I remember it," Ascella said nonchalantly. Harry shook his head then looked around the room. No sooner than Ascella had followed him into the room did the door in front of them and behind them burst into flames.

"Well that could be problematic," Ascella commented. Harry gave her a wry look before making for a table in the middle of the room, where seven bottles were arranged on the table in a line.

Harry picked up a piece of parchment and groaned.

"A riddle," he said miserably. "A riddle to figure out which potion is safe to drink to advance or return." Ascella felt her blood run cold. She was rubbish at riddles. She joined him in looking at the riddle, wishing Hermione was with them. The more she read though, the more confidence she gained. Finally when she'd finished reading it she was smiling. She grabbed it out of Harry's hand to Harry's surprise.

"It's not a riddle!" she exclaimed. "It's a logic puzzle!" Harry blinked at her but she didn't notice she was too busy checking the clues and glancing at the bottles puzzling out the options.

"And that's better?" Harry asked dubious.

"Hmm?" She glanced at him. "Oh yes. I'm terrible at riddles but I am excellent at logic. Riddles involve too many word metaphors; logic is straight forward. Now be quiet I've almost got it." She went back to the puzzle. A few minutes later she had it solved.

"There!" she said triumphantly placing a small vial in Harry's hand. "That one should let you move on and this one," she held up another vial, "will take us back." Harry looked at the vial he was holding. There looked to only be enough for one swallow.

"You are sure?"

"Positive. But you'll have to go on without me. I'm sorry. I can go back and get help with Hermione." Harry nodded. He looked nervous. Ascella bite her lip and then threw her arms around him. He returned her embrace tightly.

"Good luck Harry," she said in his ear. "Be careful. And give Snape one hell of a surprise." Harry grinned at her before swallowing the potion and passing unharmed through the flames. Ascella sighed and swallowed her own potion making sure to leave enough for Harry and headed back. Ascella reached Hermione and filled her in. Then between the two of them they helped Ron out. To their surprise they passed a harried Dumbledore on their way out, he on his way in. He seemed to already know something was wrong and after telling them to take Ron to the hospital wing he rushed on.

They next few hours were a blur but Ascella was conscious that an unconscious Harry was eventually brought to the hospital wing. Dumbledore told Ascella and Hermione that he would be alright but it would be a few days before he was awake. They headed back to the Gryffindor tower, Ascella not wanting to be alone. Instead of using her mattress under Hermione's bed she crawled in with her friend and they fell into a deep sleep.

The next few days passed with the entire school in a buzz. Apparently everyone had some idea of what had happened down under the trap door and the rumors just got crazier when it came out that it had been Quirrell who'd been after the stone and that he'd been possessed by Voldemort. Of course not many people believed the last part. Ron left the hospital the day after but Harry was there for days. He missed the last Quidditch game. It was a record breaking slaughter by Ravenclaw because Wood didn't have a reserve seeker. Ascella couldn't even be happy for her house though because she was so worried about Harry.

When he finally did wake up Ascella, Hermione, and Ron were the first ones there. Well apparently after the headmaster, but Ascella was only mildly offended that he'd gotten to speak to her friend before her.

Ascella threw her arms around Harry the minute she saw him.

"Don't do that again!" she exclaimed.

"That worried for me?" Harry laughed.

"No," she said pulling back. "These two are just really boring without you."

"Oi!" Ron said but Harry only laughed harder, knowing Ascella had been worried.

They talked then, filling Harry in on what he'd missed ("You got flattened by Ravenclaw. Sorry not sorry. We needed those points.") and Harry confirmed that Quirrell had been possessed by Voldemort. Ascella had been intrigued to learn about why Quirrell couldn't touch Harry, that is was because his mother had died to save him. She also saw how it had affected Harry and she'd grabbed his hand giving it a squeeze. He smiled gratefully at her.

Ron then told Harry that he'd better be able to get out for the feast. Slytherin had won the house cup but it would still be fun. Harry promised to try. They were kicked out shortly after.

The next day Harry was indeed released in time to enjoy the feast. Ascella grinned at him from the Ravenclaw table. He grinned back.

"How do you like the decor?" she called out, indicating the silver and green banners that covered the Great Hall. He mimed throwing up. She laughed.

Finally Dumbledore rose to award the house cup. He startled everyone when he added that there were some unawarded points yet to be given out though after beginning by congratulating the Slytherin's. Ascella sat stunned as Dumbledore gave out points. Ron received 50 for the chess game, Hermione for "applying theoretical knowledge in a practical situation" (no comment on forgetting she was a witch though; Ascella was mildly disappointed), and even she received 50 points to Ravenclaw, for her "cool headed use of logic". Harry then received 60 points for "sheer daring nerve" (she made a note to tease him about that later) and even Neville got awarded 10 points for standing up to his friends (Ascella felt very happy for the boy as she saw him duck in pleased embarrassment).

The hall was in an uproar, albeit a happy one. The awarding of points had not only put Gryffindor in the lead but it had dropped Slytherin all the way to third place putting Ravenclaw ahead of the snakes too. Ravenclaws at her table were patting her on the back. Aaron and Kevin were chanting that she was their hero and Padma had hugged her in delight. They didn't even care that they hadn't won, it was enough to be ahead of Slytherin and to see another house win as even the Hufflepuffs were celebrating.

By dessert Ascella was able to break away from the Ravenclaw table. She made her way to her friends at Gryffindor beaming. Harry saw her and pulled her into a hug. She squeezed in between Harry and Hermione smiling. She couldn't remember ever being so happy as she looked at her friends.

No, Ascella Black had found her place at Hogwarts and she'd found her friends and she couldn't wait for six more years with these crazy people.

a/n And so we've reached the end of first year! But don't worry we will be back for more adventures second year. Be prepared for more fun and longer chappie's! And more about Ascella's parents! Namely her mother.


	10. Chapter 10

**a/n you know it, it's Jo's.**

 **Here is the beginning of Second Year! This chapter is written in letters so as to progress through the summer months faster. Hope it's not confusing or anything!**

Part 2 - Summer 1992

Dear Harry,

I know it's only been two days but I am already so dreadfully bored. I miss Hogwarts. I miss the people, I think I might even miss Snape (on second thought, no I do not miss Snape, there is no way I could ever miss that greasy git), I miss the portraits, and the suits of armor and I might even miss those damn trick steps. Oh and you of course! Maybe. Are you laughing? No? Well I tried.

Anyway distract me dear Harry; tell me how dreadfully boring living with the muggles again is. Entertain me with stories of terrorizing your cousin. Please, anything that might make my summer any less boring. I asked Meda what to do and she went so far as to suggest I start my summer homework. I know, an outrageous idea! As if I want to be doing school work right now! Believe me I was horrified. No, I'd much rather read the information books Ted brings home from work (I did tell you he works at the Wizarding library in Diagon Alley right?).

Anyway I guess I'd best sign off, Meda might start to think I've taken to her idea and shut myself in my room to do work. I shudder at the thought. Must inform her that I am still bored and still haven't started my homework.

Love,

Ascella

Dearest Potter,

Oh, how I have missed you my dearest and closest Potter. (Do you see how I said Potter? It's to imply someone else might be my best friend which must be the case for you since you've yet to REPLY to me. But I'm not annoyed or anything. Nope not at all.) Anyway I do sincerely hope the muggles aren't treating you too terribly bad. In case you haven't heard my holidays have been boring. Ted did bring home a book the other day from the Wizarding Public Library, where he works, that actually bites so I guess that was intriguing. Meda's been trying to get me to help with the gardening; green thumb I do not have. Unfortunately Dora doesn't get to stop in much because of Auror training but I do get to visit her in London for a week at the end of July. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a killer present for your birthday! (Though if you don't reply to any of my letters I might not be feeling so generous...)

Anyway I must run Meda wants me to do my chores. How mundane is that? Please write soon! (And by please I mean you better!)

Your best mate (I think?),

Ascella

Dear Ascella,

You have to save me! Parvati has invited her friend Lavender Brown to stay for the last two weeks of holidays and I can't stand her! She might be worse than Turpin. (well no one is really worse than Turpin but at least Turpin can't infiltrate my home in the summers). You simply must invite me to stay. I'm counting on you! I'd ask Terry but his mum is weird about him having female friends come to stay, besides I might, sort of, miss you. But I will deny it if you bring it up.

Other than the holidays fiasco, my summer is shaping up nicely. I may not be able to stay with the Boots but I at least get to floo over and visit. But I soon won't have that as they are going on a family vacation to the French Riviera. How lucky can the boy get?! He's going to come back all tan and the rest of us will still look like summer never happened. How sad? Mum and dad were thinking of a trip to India to visit our relatives but turns out it'll have to wait til next year.

Anyway I hope your summer has been fun! Write soon!

Love,

Padma

P.S. Terry says hi!

Dear dear Harry,

If I find out that you've been writing to Ron and Hermione but not me I am going to be very, very, upset. (Read: I will be closely examining whether our friendship is worth continuing). Reply! It's really not hard. You see you take a quill (I know you have some in your bag because Hermione got you some for Christmas last year) you dip it into some ink (now I don't want to lose you here so that means you need to take out an ink bottle, uncork the top and then dip the pointy end of the quill into the ink) and then you write on a piece of parchment (you know using those symbols that make words?) starting with the words "My dearest Ascella, I am so very terribly sorry to have not written you. You see I was" followed by a very good reason for why you haven't written.

That is all.

Your annoyed friend,

Ascella

Alright Harry,

You better be dead. Cause that's the only reason I can think for you to not reply.

Ascella

Padma!

Of course I will save you! Meda says you can stay for the full two weeks Brown is at your house! Queue up the outpouring of love and thankfulness for me. Yes, I know I am the best friend you could ever have hoped to make. No, no, you are too kind to think so.

Tell Boot I hate him (no really, I might send him hate mail). He's going to be so _tan_! And everybody knows boys don't even care about that stuff, so it'll all be wasted on him. Life is incredibly unfair sometimes. I'm sorry about India; that would have been exciting.

My summer has been uneventful. Ted has been getting me books from the Wizarding library so at least I've had something to do. I've been helping Meda with some of her potions but mostly been bored. Went into the village yesterday to visit Kevin. This summer has been like moving to a new place for him now that he's realized that the village he grew up in was actually over half wizards. We pranked old man Archy. Twas' very funny. Other than that bored, bored, bored, so you better be able to come at end of holidays!

Love,

Ascella

P.S. Tell Terry I might forgive him if he sends me a postcard!

Ascella,

Nope. Don't forgive him. The traitor invited Anthony Goldstein and Micheal Corner with him. I feel so betrayed.

Yes! I am so in your debt! Unfortunately mum is only going to let me come for the last week. Her excuse being something about being supportive of my sister and her friends. I rolled my eyes so hard that she's sent me to bed without desert. I feel like I'm five.

Your downtrodden friend,

Padma

Harry!

You know I didn't mean it right? I don't actually want you to be dead. I just want you to reply! Tell me you are alive.

Ascella

P.S. But I'm not kidding, if I find out you've been writing Ron and Hermione then you are dead to me. Dead.

Dear Hermione,

Your letter was lovely. I'm glad you are having fun with your parents in London. I am visiting Dora there come the end of July. I can't wait! My summer thus far has been uneventful. The most exciting thing to happen was when a niffler got let out in the village and destroyed the muggle village bank. The muggles couldn't figure out how a mole got into the high security vault where all the gold was kept, as you know niffler's are notorious for finding treasure in any way they can. Was rather entertaining. Old man Archy thought it was a right hoot and a half, but I swear he's only half sane.

In other news have you heard from Harry? He hasn't replied to any of my letters and I'm quite put out if you must know.

Hugs and kisses,

Ascella

P.S. You must talk to your parents about coming to visit! Padma is staying the last week but you must come a minimum of a week before that!

Weasley!

I'm not going to _blame_ you per say but if you tell me that Harry's written you I might never speak to you again.

Ascella

P.S. How are your holidays? Mine have been relaxing if boring.

Harry!

If you don't reply to this letter, next time I will be giving Esmerelda permission to peck you until you do reply. You know I'm not even demanding you use a quill and parchment, feel free to use one of those muggle penn things or com-mutter or whatever, JUST REPLY!

Love

Ascella

Ascella,

I'm glad your holidays are going well. You will simply love London! I wish I could have seen more of the magical parts but it was still fun to do the muggle tourist things. If you get a chance you should check out The London Eye. It's a giant muggle carnival ride and the views are amazing; you can even spot Diagon Alley! Well we can, my parents couldn't see it but then, it is protected from muggle view from above.

As for Harry, no I haven't heard from him. I've been writing but he hasn't sent anything back. Have you checked with Ron? I know he was planning on inviting Harry to stay with him this summer.

Best,

Hermione

P.S. Yes! That sounds lovely. Mum said I should be able to come for the last two weeks of holidays. Can't wait! I miss the magical world.

Dear Harry,

So upon talking with dearest Hermione, I am inclined to believe my last letter may have been a bit of an over exaggeration but I reserve the right to stand judgment on that until I hear back from Ronald. Needless to say there will be no pecking this time.

Ascella

Ascella,

No need for that! Harry hasn't replied to me either. Hermione said she hasn't heard anything either. I'm getting concerned. You don't think the muggles are refusing him to write back to us? I hope he's alright. I've written to tell him that he's invited to my house for the end of summer but we haven't heard back. Let me know if you hear anything from him.

Ron

P.S. They've been good! Been playing a lot of Quidditch behind my house. You should floo over and play for a day. Mum would love to have you (she'd only told me about a hundred times now...). Percy's been really secretive this summer too which is nice because it means he's been spending most of his time locked up in his room instead of annoying the rest of us!

Harry,

Upon further investigation I have deduced that you have not been writing to any of us and as I know that you aren't that much of a prat I can only conclude that something is wrong. Please accept this as an apology for any offensive letter previously sent. I was going to attach your birthday present to this letter but seeing as I don't know whether you are alive or dead I am going to wait until I hear from you (it is rather a good present). So instead I am just wishing you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Lots of Love from a concerned friend,

Ascella

Ascella,

I am alive. Just got to Ron's last night. He and the twins rescued me from the Burrow with their Dad's flying car. (Yes they have a flying car and yes it was a rescue I had bars on my window! It was all rather epic.)

Sorry I didn't write, my aunt and uncle locked up all my school supplies and locked up Hegwig so I couldn't use her to write to anyone. And get this there was this house elf (did you know about these creatures?! This one seemed quite down for the count, I'd have more sympathy if he hadn't tried to get me expelled though! More on that in a minute.) who visited me! Get this _he_ was the one who was intercepting all my letters from you lot! Apparently he doesn't want me to go back to Hogwarts and thought if my friends didn't like me that I wouldn't go back. What rubbish? As if anything could keep me from going back. (Also please tell me the one written in red ink to look like blood wasn't from you... it looked... ominous to say the least).

Anyway, after he told me that, he performed magic in the house and the ministry thought it was me! This put my uncle over the edge and he put bars on my window! Literally bars! It was lucky Ron came and got me; they weren't planning on letting me go back to Hogwarts. Can you imagine? Being stuck on Private Drive for the rest of my life?! Mental.

I'm at Ron's now and he's told me he's invited you over for some Quidditch. All I can say is DO IT! I've missed you.

Hoping to see you soon,

Harry

Harry,

I will be over promptly at 2pm on the 6th of August. Get ready to get your arse kicked.

Ascella

P.S. I'll bring your pressie!

P.P.S. Red ink you say? No, I have no idea who could have sent that... none at all.

 **a/n Hope that was alright. Also I want everyone to know that the Archy I mention is the same Archy who in book four is in a woman's night dress at the Quidditch World Cup. I always found him hilarious so I though it would be great if Ascella grew up in the same village as him!**


	11. Chapter 11

**a/n Obvi if you recognize it, it doesn't belong to me, it's JK Rowlings. This is a second chappie for you because the other was short!**

August 1992

"Meda! 'Mione's going to be here any second! Can't this wait?" Ascella shouted down the stairs at Meda. Meda wanted her to come taste some experimental potion that induced happiness. She was always trying to get Ascella to taste test her potions and not even for the effects because those were already ironed out, no it was always for the taste. Meda was a witch who liked to experiment, usually with potions. She'd gotten praise and prizes throughout the years for her research and potion inventions.

Normally Ascella was fine with being the guinea pig, she and Meda would spend hours talking about the potion or just laughing at how awful some of their taste "improvements" turned out, but Hermione was coming to visit for the rest of holiday and Ascella had yet to clean her room. There was clothing strewn everywhere, hanging off the back of her desk chair, and school books flung in a corner, left untouched for all of summer despite their summer homework (Ascella bet Hermione had already done hers, Ascella would probably scramble something together the night before) and bits of ink and parchment as well as some owl droppings Ascella was disgusted to find near Esmeralda's cage ("That's it you bird you! You are outside only!"). She thought about just asking Meda, who was very good at cleaning and organizing spells, but she knew that wouldn't go over well. Unless Meda was really keen on her help... hmm.

Ascella went to the door of her room. "Meda?" she called down the stairs sweetly. "How much do you love me?" Meda appeared at the bottom of the stairs. She grinned at Ascella.

"Not enough to clean your room for you," she said. "You knew you should have done it ages ago." Ascella humped, returning to her room. Yes she did know that.

"Why must you always be right!" she called down the stairs throwing her head back.

"Love you too Cella!" Meda's voice rang back up the stairs. Ascella rolled her eyes fondly, before beginning to clean.

An hour later the room was looking much better. The clothes were all put away (or more accurately put in the hamper as she couldn't remember if they were clean or dirty), the owl droppings cleaned up (with only minimal swearing and almost retching), and the books at least piled up on her desk with the parchment. Meda came up about this point to set up the bed Hermione would be staying in.

"There," Meda said with a wave of her wand. "Now come taste this one! I think it tastes rather like Droobles Best Blowing gum but I'm worried it might be off putting for inducing happiness."

Ascella and Meda spent the next hour laughing and trying different flavors of happiness potion, to the point where they were in such a good mood when Hermione arrived via floo, that they both greeted her with so much enthusiasm and joy that Hermione was almost knocked over by the hugs and didn't quite know what to do with them. Meda came to first and had the good sense to explain the potion to her. Hermione's eyes widened in interest and soon she too was giddily happy with the rest of them.

Ted later commented when he got home that they should take that potion every day if he was going to get such a welcome when they did.

Hermione seemed to really love the house. She kept finding everything very fascinating ("What do you mean you don't have a refrigerator?" "No eek-lek-city 'Mione." "But how do you keep food cold?" "Oh here we go again. Hermione sometimes I really think you forget we have _magic_.") and so Ascella spent much of the next couple of days wandering around the house and village (the magical parts of the village in particular) explaining and showing Hermione how wizards lived. They even walked by old man Archy's house ("you have to watch out for him. He likes to do his yard work in his undergarments, and he is always forgetting to not use magic outside. The ministry is called in at least once a month to sort out some poor muggle. Personally, I think they perform the memory charm more to take away the image of the man in his skivvies than because they saw the magic...").

Then came their school letters. Hermione was very excited to see a full set of Gilderoy Lockhart books on the list of books to buy. " Oh I've heard of him!" she'd exclaimed. "He's supposed to have defeated a whole host of dark creatures and the like." Ascella and Meda had been less enthused. Meda had even commented under her breathe, "He's an absolute nut-case." Ascella had tried to stifle her laugh. Meda had gone to school with Lockhart and had never thought very much of him.

Now that the school supplies had been sent out Hermione was on Ascella's case about finishing her homework assignments. Ascella had laughed in her face but she did concede that they'd best head to Diagon Alley. Ted decided to take the day off and accompany them there. They traveled by floo and arrived unharmed in the Leaky Cauldron. They were pleasantly surprised to see the Weasley's gathered around. Ascella and Hermione were hugged by Mrs. Weasley while Mr. said hullo and chatted with Ted. They'd apparently at school during the same time, though Ted had been in Hufflepuff.

Ascella quickly learned that while Ron was happy to see herself and Hermione, they'd been waiting for Harry and had just realized he might have not spoken clearly enough and as such was most likely a few fireplaces down. Ascella had laughed, while Hermione looked concerned. Ascella was spotted by the twins before she could question Ron further, who proceeded to greet her by giving her an enthusiastic double hug. Percy gave a brief hello before bustling off to Diagon Alley.

"Been like that all summer," Ron said. "Been rather peaceful to be honest." Ascella laughed.

"Well I guess we'd best find out if the Boy Who Lived is in fact still alive," Ascella said moving with the crowd of friends and family for the entrance to Diagon Alley. Ron laughed but Hermione looked horrified.

"Oh 'Mione, give it a rest, he'll be fine. He's already lived through an unforgivable curse, at this point he's untouchable," Ascella said. Hermione looked at her even more horrified. Ascella continued to ignore her. It wasn't that she wasn't worried. She was, she just dealt with worry by pretending she wasn't and trying to fix it, like moving to go look for Harry.

Luckily they found Harry quickly. He was being escorted out of Knockturn Alley by Hagrid. Ascella was mildly jealous he'd gotten a look down there, but Meda had assured her many years ago that she really wasn't missing anything but some nasty nightmares. Ascella had grudgingly let it slide figuring Meda knew what she was talking about considering who she'd been raised by.

When Ascella saw Harry she threw her arms around him. But not because she'd been worried. Oh no never that.

Harry of course called her out on it, but she just hit him. The Weasley's, Hermione's parents who'd joined them for the day, and Ted all much releaved then took them to Gringotts to get money. Ascella refused to let anyone but Ted come with her to her vault, even Harry as even he would be disgusted at the wealth in the Black family vault. When they returned last as the vault was down deep by the dragon they found Mr. Weasley chatting enthusiastically with Hermione's parents. Mr. Weasley was fascinated with Mr. and Mrs. Granger as he loved muggles and found everything about their world fascinating. Ted laughed joining them and acted as a translator for both the Granger's and Mr. Weasley; he had after all grown up to muggle parents. After that the adults let them wander, Mrs. Weasley telling them to meet them at Flourish and Blotts in an hour.

Ascella walked around the alley happily with her friends, glad to be all together again. An hour later they found themselves outside of Flourish and Blotts only to see the bookshop more busy than they had ever seen it before.

"What's going on?" Harry asked trying to crane his head above the crowd.

"Book signing," Ron, who was the tallest of the four, answered. " Oh bloody hell, it's for Lockhart. That bloke who's written all our new defense books."

Ascella groaned. Hermione was so excited she was bouncing on her feet. Harry looked amused at his friends' differing reactions.

"Well come on. We'd best find the adults," Ascella said enthusiastically, pushing her way through the crowd. They found them inside the crowded shop. They'd already picked up the rest of their books and were now just waiting on the Lockhart ones. Mrs. Weasley in particular was bursting with excitement at the opportunity to meet the man; she and about every other witch in the country it seemed to Ascella who, upon looking around, noticed the shop was filled with mostly women.

From their spot in line the foursome and the rest had a view of the man himself. Ascella appraised him; sure she could admit he wasn't a bad looking bloke but he was just a bit too much for Ascella's liking. Ascella then noticed the man with the camera standing next to Lockhart.

Turning to her friends she was about to comment about how the Prophet was here when Gilderoy Lockhart stopped suddenly, his eyes lighting on Harry.

"Oh no," Ascella had time to mumble before Harry was ushered forward to awkwardly stand next to Lockhart for a photo.

Mrs. Weasley and Hermione didn't seem to agree with her sentiment though, thinking Harry was lucky to be singled out by the famous wizard (who clearly only wanted more fame and as such was using Harry to get it, Ascella thought). Lockhart made a big show of giving Harry his entire collection of works on the house. Ascella almost gagged, but she was glad when Harry gave the brand new books to Ginny, who'd had to get all the rest of her school supplies second (or third) hand.

They gathered up and made to leave when a voice stopped Ascella and her friends.

"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" It was Malfoy. Ascella turned and readied herself with a snappy retort but Ginny got there first.

"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" she said. Ascella was impressed. It was the most she'd ever heard the girl say in front of Harry, normally she was too tongue tied because of her little crush. Which of course Malfoy then felt the need to make fun of, teasing Harry snidely about his new girlfriend before turning on Ron and having a go at him for not having any money. Ron looked about ready to jump Malfoy but it was about that time that Malfoy senior made a comment that resulted in Mr. Weasley launching himself at the man.

Ascella's mouth dropped. Then she grinned as the twins started cheering on their dad. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy were in a fist fight at a book signing in Flourish and Blotts. It couldn't get much funnier. Hagrid with the help of Ted managed to separate the two men.

The group separated soon afterwards with mixed happieness.

Padma arrived promptly at noon the next day.

The first words out of her mouth were, " Oh thank Merlin you invited me to stay. I don't think I could have stood another week with my sister's friend Lavender Brown," as she hugged Ascella tightly. Ascella laughed returning the girls hug. Pulling away from the hug Padma spotted Hermione and she grinned at her.

"Alright Granger?" she asked. Hermione replied she was well. The two girls helped Padma with her stuff up to Ascella's room. Ascella asked what was so awful about Brown.

"Ugh," Padma replied heaving the front end of her trunk up. "Surely you've met her spending nights with Hermione in Gryffindor. She's just completely ridiculous. And she makes my sister that way too. I swear usually Parvati is quite rational, but introduce Brown and I swear she loses about 50 IQ points and is reduced to a hopeless giggling mess!" Hermione let out a shout of laughter before she tried to hide it. Ascella had no doubt Hermione shared Padma's opinion but Hermione wasn't one to speak bad about the girls she had to share a dormitory with, unlike Padma and Ascella who didn't bother to hide their dislike of Turpin.

Padma turned to Hermione amused at her laughter. "Seriously? How do you put up with them?" Hermione smiled and shrugged as they all dragged Padma's trunk into Ascella's room. Meda had added another bed to the room.

"They can be rather much at times, but I'm not in my dorm all that much so I don't really have to bother with it," Hermione replied.

"She's too nice," Padma said to Ascella. Ascella grinned.

"I know. We need to corrupt her."

Over the next week, while the girls weren't able to corrupt the Gryffindor bookworm, they were able to get her to relax a bit and be girly with them. They painted her nails, Hermione even let them play around with different hair products on her curls and got her to talk about stuff other than things she learned out of a library book. They found out that Hermione shared Padma's obsession with Lockhart ("he's just so dreamy"). Ascella had scoffed at them both.

Ascella and Padma even received a post card a few days before term from one Terry Boot. Padma had smirked knowingly, before cursing Boot for the much less heartfelt one he'd sent her ("Huph, apparently he thought I'd be easier to appease," she'd said). Ascella spent the night before heading back finishing up her essay's and making sure everything was packed while Hermione and Padma were reading one of Lockhart's books for the upteenth time. Being with her friends for the past two weeks had made Ascella yearn for Hogwarts. She couldn't wait to get back and see all her other friends, but mostly she couldn't wait to see Harry again. Quidditch this summer hadn't been enough and she'd only seen him once in the past two weeks. No it was high time that the dynamic duo, Black and Potter, were reunited.


	12. Chapter 12

**a/n don't own! That would be JK Rowling. SO this chapter is quite long! Hope you enjoy!**

 **Sorry if you tried to read this before I have no idea what happened with the formatting! Thanks to everyone who pointed it out. Should be all fixed now!**

September 1992

"Where the hell are they?" Ascella asked after she and Hermione had checked every compartment on the train. They'd been left by Padma when she went to find the other Ravenclaws and had been looking for Harry and Ron ever since. They hadn't seen them on the platform or with the rest of the Weasley's and they'd since passed the twins and Percy on the train but hadn't seen any sign of their friends and the train had left the station five minutes ago.

"I don't know," Hermione said nervously biting her lip. "Oh I do hope they didn't miss the train."

"Seems unlikely if Fred and George made it on, but who knows. Come on. Let's go ask them," Ascella said moving back down the train to where they'd seen the twins sitting with Ginny, who was starting school this year, Lee Jordan, and the other Gryffindor chasers.

Fred looked up when they entered.

"Aw look who's come to join us George!" he said. George looked up and grinned at them.

"Alright Black? Hermione?" he said to them.

"Yeah alright," Ascella replied. "Look have you seen Harry and your brother?" Fred shook his head.

"No," Fred said. "We were running late so we all jumped on the train as quick as we could."

"Barely got on with Ginny before the train started moving. Didn't ever see Ron or Harry though," George added looking mildly concerned.

"Hmm," Ascella pursed her lips in thought. "Right, well thanks anyway," she said closing the door and turning to Hermione. "Well it doesn't look like they've made it on so come on let's find somewhere to sit. Maybe they'll show up for the feast."

They ended up in a compartment with Padma, Terry Boot, Micheal Corner, and Anthony Goldstein, the later three of whom were looking very tan indeed.

"You lot disgust me," Ascella said to the boys. "Unashamedly wearing such tans in public while I'm still so pale."

Padma smiled at her, Terry looked up from his book pleasantly surprised. Corner and Goldstein greeted her grinning and asked her about her summer. After speaking with Padma briefly and explaining why they were joining the group, Hermione settled in reading from their new Charms book, incidentally the one book Ascella herself had already devoured of her school books. Ascella and Padma settled in to teasing Boot and laughing with the other boys as they regaled them with stories from their time in France.

About halfway through the journey the compartment door was opened to reveal Malfoy flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Ugh, I know you can stand the sight of them but really Malfoy can't you at least have the decency to not force your goonies ugliness on the rest of us innocents?" Ascella said grimacing at the sight of them.

"Clever Black. Where're Potty and the Weasel?" Malfoy sneered back, arms crossed. Ascella rolled her eyes. Of course he'd wanted to come heckle Harry and Ron.

"Cute names. Come up with them on your own? Mummy must be so proud!" Malfoy flushed. "As for where they are, clearly not here. Which is where I suggest you get to too."

Ascella pulled out her wand and was surprised to see Boot, Padma, Corner, and Goldstein with theirs all pointing at the three Slytherin's as well.

Malfoy's lip curled. "Whatever Black. You'd better watch your back this year. Just because we're family doesn't mean you'll be safe, _cousin_." And then he was gone.

Ascella's eyes narrowed in anger. The Ravenclaws and Hermione were all looking at her, the Ravenclaws with confusion and Hermione with concern.

" _Cousin_?" Corner repeated. "What did he mean _cousin_? You aren't seriously related to that git?" Ascella nodded darkly.

"Of course I am. All pureblood families are somewhere. We aren't really cousins exactly though. More like second cousins. My uh, my father," the word tasted bitter on her tongue, "was his mum's cousin. And I was raised by his mum's sister. They don't exactly get a long though, what with her marrying a muggleborn, so at least I didn't have to grow up seeing him at family functions."

"Merlin, Black," Goldstein said. "And I thought my family had issues." Padma hissed at him and Hermione glared but Ascella laughed instead.

"Yeah, they really are a piece of work. Exploding snap?" Talking about this was getting Ascella too close to thinking about her father and thinking about her father only ever put her in a bad mood so she changed the subject. Luckily, the boys agreed and soon the compartment was once again filled with laughter and joy. No one noticed that Ascella's was a little forced, no one except maybe Hermione, because Hermione was worried about the same thing, Harry and Ron.

Ascella had pretended earlier that it didn't bother her but she was concerned. She was holding out hope that they'd be at the feast. When it became apparent that they weren't at the feast Ascella exchanged worried looks with Hermione. She'd sat at the Gryffindor table with Hermione and there nerves only increased when they heard the rumors flying about. People were saying that Harry Potter and his friend Ron had _flown_ to school in a magic car. And that the reason they weren't at the feast was because they were being talked to by McGonagall. Hermione was so nervous she hadn't said one thing about how Lockhart was their new Defense teacher.

"If that is even remotely true they are so expelled," Hermione said to Ascella. Ascella swallowed nervously.

"Nah," she tried to assure her friend. "They wouldn't expel them for something like that." Her words sounded fake even to her own ears. At the end of the feast Ascella hugged Hermione good bye and made her swear to send her word if the worst had happened. Ascella would have gone back to the Gryffindor common room with her but she felt an overwhelming desire for the comfort of her own four poster that night.

"Is it true?" Padma asked when Ascella had caught up and slipped her arm in hers. Boot looked at her expectantly from Padma's other side.

"I don't know," Ascella replied, knowing Padma was referring to the rumors about Harry and Ron. "If it is it'll be a miracle if they aren't already expelled," she said miserably. Padma gave her hand a squeeze.

"Don't worry. They can't expel The Boy Who Lived." Ascella grinned. Padma was right. Harry would be fine.

In the common room they bid Terry goodnight, and headed to bed but not before Kevin and Aaron found her and demanded to know if "Potter and Weasley had really gotten to school in a flying car!" Despite the nerves Ascella felt about it she could understand their awe and why they were impressed with this feat. She'd be impressed too if she only knew they weren't expelled.

In the dorm Ascella glared at Turpin but other than that she only briefly said hullo to the other girls before crawling into her blue fourposter. When Ascella hadn't heard anything from Hermione by midnight she decided that no news was good news and allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

When she made it down to the Great Hall the next morning for breakfast she was overjoyed to see a familiar red head and black messy haired boy sitting at the Gryffindor table. She left Padma and Sue Li at the Ravenclaw table and passed on to sit down across from Harry and Ron.

"So," she said fixing them both with a stare. "Flying car? Really?" Ron paled and Harry looked sheepish. "What possessed you to take a flying car to Hogwarts? I'm mildly impressed."

"Well when we went to get on the train, the barrier wouldn't let us through, so we missed the train and -"

"And naturally the only option was to fly a car to school?" Ascella finished for Ron dubious.

"Yeah well we realized last night it was maybe not our brightest idea," Harry said downcast. "Never seen McGonagall so angry. I thought for sure we were goners."

"Would have been if it'd been up to Snape," Ron added.

Ascella nodded and started buttering some toast. Owls were starting to filter in with the morning mail.

"Well I can't say I think it was smart but it was pretty amazing. You are both the talk of the school you know, not that I notice that overmuch. What are your punishments anyway?"

"Detentions, starting this Saturday," Harry replied as Ron was too busy looking horrified at the letter his family bird Errol had dropped off. Ascella and Harry both stared at it too.

"What's wrong Weasley?" Ascella asked, but then she saw the red parchment and she couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. Ron had gotten a howler. Ascella would put money the next several minutes were going to be entertaining, especially when Neville Longbottom shoved his fingers into his ears upon sight of the smoking crimson envelope.

She was proved right when moments later Mrs. Weasley's magically enhanced voice rang out in the Great Hall.

"STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE - LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED - ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED - YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."

When the letter finished it burst into flames. Harry and Ron had sunk as low in their seats as possible and looked mortified. Ascella took one look at them and burst into laughter, her laugh filling the silent hall. Harry glared at her but she couldn't stop. The one good thing about her laughter was that it broke the silent spell that everyone had seemed to be held under and got every one to go back to their own business.

Ascella opened her mouth to speak through giggles, when Harry said, "Not a word. Don't make it worse." His tone shut her up but she couldn't help the slight grin that sprang to her face whenever she thought about the howler.

A short while later Flitwick found her at the Gryffindor table and handed her her second year timetable. She was glad he didn't seem surprised to find her there. Ascella wasn't known for being predictable in where she could be found, having spent most of first year split equally between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor (well probably more skewed towards Gryffindor if she was honest). She surveyed her timetable and compared it with Hermione's as she was sitting next to her.

"Lovely. Same classes as last year together. Looks like I'll be seeing you later in Transfiguration. And Defense. With _Lockhart_ ," Ascella teased Hermione. She was pleased to see her blush as she mumbled a "you are ridiculous" before going back to look at the rest of her classes.

"Well I'll see you lot later today. I'm off to History of Magic. I've a bet to win!" Ascella said rising.

"A bet?" Harry asked, momentarily broken out of his silent mortification.

"Yeah Morag and I have an ongoing bet pool for every History of Magic class about how long it'll take before Entwhistle falls asleep. I'm ahead by three galleons. Ta ta!" And with that she left a laughing Harry and Ron and a disapproving Hermione.

Ascella quickly caught up with the Ravenclaw second years and she slipped her arm into Aaron Morag's.

"Oh hullo," he said flashing her a smile. "Long time no see."

Ascella tutted at him. "Cut the small talk Morag. What are the odds looking like today?" Aaron laughed at her and they both turned to survey the half-Asian boy sleepily walking along zombie-like just ahead of them.

"Well, he didn't sleep well last night," Morag whispered to her. "Personally, I think he hasn't gotten used to the wind through the turrets yet, so I'd say odds are low he makes it much past halfway through class before falling asleep the first time, but he doesn't stay asleep for long." Ascella nodded taking in the facts and looking at Entwhistle.

"Hmm. So your bet?" Ascella whispered back.

"Falls asleep in first ten minutes and wakes up periodically throughout the lesson."

"Alright I say he stays awake for the first twenty but after that he falls asleep until the end of class." Morag raised a blonde eyebrow at her, silently asking for an explanation.

"It's the first day of classes. Yes he may not have slept well because of it but I bet he's resolved himself to paying better attention in this class this year, he is a Ravenclaw after all, and will want to start the year off right, so he'll fight to stay awake in the beginning but it will eventually become too much for him and he will fall asleep and when he does he'll be out."

"You're on," Aaron whispered as they settled in their seats in the back, to watch Kevin and wait for the Slytherins to trickle in. Ascella managed to only slightly curl her lip at the sight of them; she'd been mildly disappointed they'd been exchanged for the Hufflepuffs for History of Magic this year but at least she still had the bet to keep her entertained.

At the end of class Ascella had been proven correct. Morag grudgingly slipped her her winnings for the day and they exited the classroom dragging a still half asleep Entwhistle.

"How do you do it?" he whispered in awe. Ascella grinned evilly. This year was starting out quite nicely.

"It's a gift," she said pocketing the money.

"What's a gift?" Kevin yawned, blinking at her. "Oh hullo Ascella. Good summer?" Ascella laughed at him.

"Yes lovely. You should know I only saw you at least once a week," she replied. At the end of last term they'd learned that he'd grown up in the muggle side of the same village as she had. As such Ascella had spent much of the summer with Kevin exploring the magical parts of the village he'd never known about.

Entiwhistle blinked at her. "Oh of course," he said. "Just a bit sleepy. Binns always takes it out of me." Ascella laughed and Morag glared still upset he'd lost the bet. Again. He took off walking in front of them.

"What's with him?" Kevin asked her. He didn't know about their betting pool.

"No idea," Ascella said breezily. "Shall we?" She asked hooking arms with him and heading to Transfiguration. Ascella made a face at Harry as they joined the second year Gryffindor's on their way to Transfiguration together.

They claimed the same seats as last year again. As always McGonagall sent them a suspicious glance. Ascella smiled demurely back. McGonagall had even gone so far as to threaten to separate them last term but Ascella wouldn't have any of that.

"Why does she always do that?" Harry asked Ascella.

"I haven't the foggiest," she replied. Then the lesson began. They were going to be transfiguring beetles into buttons. Ascella managed to refrain from rolling her eyes. She'd mastered this ages ago. She quickly completed all of her transformations while Harry filled her in on what Lockhart had said to him outside of Herbology.

"He thinks _what_?" Ascella asked incredulous, casually correcting Harry's beetle transformation; he was too distracted to do it properly.

"Thanks. Yeah, he thinks I just did the whole car thing to get attention. _And_ he thinks its his fault for letting me be photographed with him. Didn't mean to give me a 'big head' as it were," Harry replied annoyed, finally successfully transfiguring his beetle.

"What a presumptuous prat," Ascella said darkly. Harry nodded and opened his mouth to reply but they were both distracted by Ron once again being engulfed in a thick gray smoke that smelled oddly like rotten eggs. It happened every time Ron tried to transfigure his beetle. It had become a reflex for Ascella to dispel the smoke with her wand when it happened. McGonagall wasn't very pleased though.

"He needs a new wand," Ascella said lowly to Harry. Harry had told her earlier that Ron had broken his wand when they'd landed in the Whomping Willow.

"I know," he whispered back. "But he doesn't want to write his family for a new one because he doesn't want to get in more trouble for having broken the one he had." Ascella nodded glumly. She wouldn't want to either but she also made a mental note to stay away from Ron whenever he was trying to use magic and to definitely, never let him try magic on her. Ascella also suspected that what Harry hadn't said was that he doubted Ron's family would be able to afford a new wand anyhow.

That afternoon Ascella had found Harry sitting in the back of the Defense classroom glaring behind a stack of Lockhart's books, arms crossed angrily, while Ron chortled next to him. Ascella sat in front of Ron next to Hermione.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Ron replied laughing, while Harry continued to glare.

"I was just telling Harry that my sister and Colin Creevey are going to start a fan club for him," he said. Harry flushed faintly and continued glaring at the back of his books. Ascella's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Wait, who's Colin Creevey? And why are he and Ginny starting a fan club?" she asked.

"Colin is a new Gryffindor. He's muggleborn and just found out about Harry," Hermione answered, her eyes still glued to the front waiting for Lockhart no doubt. "He was a little... overeager, at lunch today."

"Overeager?" Ron gave a shout of laughter. "He looked like he might wet himself he was so excited. Wanted a photo, then Lockhart got involved and made him take a photo with the two of them! Lockhart must think Harry is a right fame hound!" Ascella might have laughed, but she saw the look on Harry's face. Ascella wasn't always the nicest person, in fact she could be quite cruel at times and she wasn't known for noticing other people and their feelings, but her exception had always been Harry. He was her best friend and she'd do anything for him. And so when she noticed Harry's face and how the stack of books was strategically placed so as to block any view of Lockhart when he arrived to teach, Ascella came to his defense.

"Well Lockhart's a twit so who cares. And as for the fan club you could be president Ron," she said back. That shut Ron up real quick. Harry met her eyes for the first time since she'd arrived, grateful. She smiled at him and turned around as Lockhart swept into the classroom.

All the girls in the room swooned. Ascella almost vomited. She could see Padma sitting in the front row next to her sister and Sue Li. She was acting just as ridiculous as the rest of them. Ascella made a mental note to knock some sense back into the girl at a later date.

Then Lockhart announced a pop quiz. Most of the class groaned, Ascella included. When she looked down at her paper and read some of the questions though she was appalled.

'What's his favorite color?' she turned and mouthed to Harry. He choked on a laugh and hide it with a cough and bent over his own quiz. All the rest of the questions were along the same lines. Hermione was busy scratching away next to her but Ascella decided to have some fun with this quiz instead. To all of the ridiculous questions she put equally ridiculous answers. Next to favorite color she put 'well it really depends on the day and his mood; pink when he's happy, blue when he's sad, and red when he's feeling... well let's just say _frisky_ ' for Gilderoy enjoys in his free time she put 'dressing up as a woman and going out for a night on the town. Karaoke is a must' and for Gilderoy's secret ambition she put 'to be as famous as Harry Potter'.

Ascella almost died with laughter when she told Harry what she'd done. Soon they were both laughing in the back while Hermione shot them glares, her attention rapt on Lockhart. Ascella knew the exact moment Lockhart got to her paper because his eyes widened in shock. This, of course, sent her and Harry into more silent laughter. They had to look away from each other both of their eyes shinning. Unfortunately, Lockhart looked up then and looking at Ascella told her she would be serving detention with him that evening after dinner.

Ascella shrugged unconcerned. It had made Harry smile and that would always be worth it for her. Then he announced that only one of them had gotten all of them right (* _cough_ , _cough_ * Hermione) and then he let a bunch of Cornish Pixies loose on them.

Ascella swore colorfully and dove beneath her desk as the pixies began destroying the classroom. They were tossing books around, breaking ink bottles and throwing bits of parchment about, not to mention dragging poor Neville by his ears and attaching him to a chandelier. After Lockhart tried and failed to contain the Pixies he left Ascella, Harry, Ron, and Hermione to clear up the brutes as they are the only students still left in the classroom.

"Absolutely useless!" Ascella said to Harry and Ron from where they were barricaded behind an overturned desk in the back. The boys nodded in agreement as Hermione took care of the Pixies. Ascella had refused to help because "I'm not going to clean up _that_ idiots mess. Maybe it'll get him fired and we won't have to deal with him any longer". Harry had agreed with her.

How Hermione came away from that experience still thinking Lockhart was impressive was any of their guesses, because they really didn't understand it.

At dinner, Ascella looked up from her Shepard's pie to see Harry looking at her thoughtfully.

"Yes?" she asked worried there was something on her face.

"When is your birthday Ascella?" he asked. Ascella was taken aback.

"Um, random. But its September 5th," she replied. Harry's eyes widened.

"How come you never mentioned this?" he asked incredulous.

"Er, I don't know, " Ascella shrugged. "Last year we didn't know each other well yet. I didn't tell anybody."

"And were you going to tell us _this_ year?" he continued to question her. Ascella shifted uncomfortably. At this point both Ron and Hermione were now staring at her.

"Well probably. I don't know. My birthday has never been that big of a deal to me I guess."

"Oh nonsense," Hermione waved her off. "Everybody loves their birthday." Ascella shrugged. Harry was shaking his head at her.

"What?" she demanded upon seeing the cheeky grin on his face.

"I just can't believe you weren't going to tell us and pass up on making us get you presents," he said.

"Maybe I was hoping you wouldn't know so I could make you feel guilty about it after for not knowing," Ascella said primly. Harry froze his fork halfway to his mouth. Ascella laughed.

"I'm kidding. But I am glad you know me well enough to know that that wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility of something I would do." Harry shook his head again, finishing his food.

"I'm curious though. What made you ask?" Ascella asked.

"On Lockhart's quiz he asked when his birthday was and it made me realize I didn't know yours."

"Oh." Ascella took a bite of food and then turned excitedly to Harry. "So what _are_ you going to get me?"

Harry grinned at her. "You'll see," he said cheekily. "Coming back to Gryffindor tonight?" he then abruptly asked.

"No, I don't think so. I told Padma I'd help her go over Charms before tomorrow. You know how she is. Oh! But that's only after my detention with Lockhart. Why?' Harry tried to look casual but Ascella could tell he was disappointed.

"Oh," he said eyes on his food. "No reason. Just thought you might want to hang out." He shrugged casually, his green eyes briefly meeting hers before he turned to join a conversation with Ron and Neville about Quidditch. Ascella frowned, but finished her dinner without questioning further.

Hours later Ascella crawled into Harry's bed.

"What - Ascella? What are you doing here?" a groggy Harry asked.

"Went to go get a book from the library before curfew and got locked out, then it took awhile to convince a fifth year to let me in because _someone_ forgot to tell me the password," Ascella replied nestling into his pillow, curled up on her side facing away from him. She felt more than saw him grin at her, before laying back down next to her.

"Hmm, did you get the book?" he asked yawning.

"Yeah," Ascella replied, closing her gray eyes. They both knew she was lying. There'd been no book. She'd just wanted to see him as much as he'd wanted to see her. They'd both needed reassurance that the summer apart had changed nothing in their relationship, that being back at Hogwarts meant being with each other, that they were still best friends.

"How was detention?"

"Ugh. He made me do lines. 'I will not write rude things about Professor Lockhart on my quiz papers and pass them off as answers'. Git." Harry chuckled. They continued to chat intermittently until Ascella started to drift off.

Ascella was almost asleep when Harry spoke again.

"Ascella? Keep Friday night free, okay?"

"Sure sure," she said, as she slipped into dream land, not a care in the world and not once realizing that Friday was her birthday.


	13. Chapter 13

**a/n disclaimer: Do not own. You recognize it it belongs to JK Rowling.**

September 1992

The next morning Ascella and Harry chatted easily as they made their way out the portrait hole and down to breakfast. They talked about summer, Quidditch (Harry wanted to know if Ascella would be trying out for her house team this year, she wouldn't), and how awful Snape was likely to be to the pair of them this year, Harry especially as Snape hadn't managed to get him expelled.

"Seriously though, he won't stand for it. Just think he was _that_ ," Ascella held up her thumb and forefinger milometers apart," close to getting rid of you, his least favorite student. Well one of, but you know with one gone he'd have thought it easier to get rid of me. Still don't know why he hates me so much. Say, do you think he and Malfoy have little meetings together over tea where they bond over how much they hate you?" Ascella said as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Probably. And then they brainstorm ways to annoy me the most and orchestrate it so their plans line up for maximum effect."

"Most definitely," Ascella agreed, heaping some bacon onto her plate.

Shortly after this they were joined by a small first year boy with a camera.

"Hi Harry!" the boy said excitedly. Harry looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there at the moment.

"Er, hi Colin," he said back not wanting to be rude, Ascella assumed. Ascella, meanwhile, had no scruples about that.

"Hey squirt," she said bluntly. "Budge up. The great Harry Potter can't have people within ten feet of him before he's eaten anything, otherwise you might find out just how he was able to fight off Voldemort." The kid, Ascella could only assume was Colin Creevey's eyes widened in a mix of shock and awe before moving further down the bench, even putting a few people between him and Harry. He stayed there for the rest of breakfast, though he did shoot Harry looks periodically, as if hoping for a display.

"Thanks," Harry mumbled into his eggs.

"No problem," Ascella replied. "Colin Creevey?" she asked. Harry nodded. They were soon joined by Hermione and Ron.

"Have a bit of a lie in Weasley?" Ascella asked Ron as he piled his plate with food. He grunted. Charming, Ascella thought her lip curling in disgust.

"No. You lot did forget to wake me though." Hermione heard and looked at Ascella sharply. Ascella pointedly didn't meet her eyes. Hermione didn't exactly approve of her spending the night in the boys dorm. It was why she had a mattress for Ascella under her own bed but Ascella would always prefer Harry's bed, even if she had to deal with Ron's snoring, albeit only until she figured out the silencio charm. She'd gotten it to work on small animals (like Neville's toad) for hours but hadn't quite gotten the adjustment yet for humans.

"Really Ascella! You should sleep in your own dorm, and at the very least up in mine. I shudder to think what kind of punishment Professor McGonagall would give out if she found you there." Ascella bowed her head. She knew Hermione was right but she also knew she wasn't going to stop and she really didn't feel like getting into an argument this early in the morning. It turned out though, that she didn't need to say anything as Harry came to her defense.

"Relax Hermione. We were just talking and fell asleep, otherwise she'd have been over in the girls dorm with you. Besides McGonagall won't ever catch her. We have the cloak, so the only way she'd find out would be if one of you told which we know isn't going to happen, right?" Harry asked looking pointedly at her. She huffed but didn't say anything. Harry must have taken that as all the agreement he was going to get and turned back to Ascella and his toast.

Ascella shot him a grateful smile and finished her own toast.

"What do you have again this morning?" Harry asked Ascella as they all rose to head to lessons a short while later.

"Herbology," she answered, less than enthused. By far her worst subject was Herbology. Sure, she still pulled top marks in her essays and exams but she just didn't have a natural ability for it and as such she had to work a little harder, particularly during practicals. Despite Meda's attempts over the summer to get her to help with the gardening, she still did not have a green thumb. "And it's in greenhouse three. Which means I'll probably get bit by some dangerous plant or poisoned by a Venomous Tentacula. In all honesty we'd best say our good byes now, as this might be the last time you see me alive." Harry looked sideways at her and grinned.

"I don't know about all that. Just be sure to keep your earmuffs on tight."

"What?" Ascella asked making a face. Harry merely laughed and told her she'd see.

"Does this have anything to do with Longbottom going to the hospital wing because he passed out in class yesterday?" she asked trying to get the answer out of him. Harry laughed harder.

"Something like that," he said before darting up the Marble Staircase in the Entrance Hall with Hermione and Ron.

"Potter!" Ascella yelled to him.

"Have fun Cells!" he called and then he was lost in the crowd, swept away to Charms.

"Damn him," Ascella muttered turning to walk through the oak front doors and head to the greenhouses. She arrived just before the bell and slipped into her spot next to Entwhistle, who smiled at her in hello. She was annoyed to see Zabini had decided to continue his tradition of working at the same station as her, Entwhistle and Morag. Nothing like someone she didn't like to make a class she didn't like all the worse. At least he wasn't Malfoy, she supposed.

Ascella blew her bangs out of her face and pulled her braid over one shoulder and turned to listen to Professor Sprout as she started the lesson. Ascella soon learned what the earmuff comment had been all about and why Longbottom had been knocked out; they would be re-potting Mandrakes. She couldn't help but feel bad for Neville but at the same time she didn't want for herself to be a repeat performance.

"Worried Black?" Morag whispered, wiggling his eyebrows at her as he put on his normal looking earmuffs. Ascella had ended up with a pair of pink fluffy ones but she was okay with this as they looked to have more material with which to drown out the Mandrake shrieks. She wasn't taking any chances.

"Please," she scoffed, hiding the nerves she was actually feeling, with her usual bravado. Still she made extra sure that her earmuffs covered her ears and that she couldn't hear anything, including Morag's laughter at how ridiculous Entwhistle looked in pink earmuffs. Ascella noticed Zabini had pink ones too but no one was laughing at him. somehow even those he managed to pull off, then she turned to her pot and plant, a determined look on her face.

An hour later Ascella thought she'd done quite well. If she hadn't re-potted the most mandrakes she had at least gotten as many as Zabini and she hadn't had any mishaps like Entwhistle who'd thought he was being funny when he stuck his finger in one of the mandrakes mouths and had been bitten. He'd dropped the plant to the greenhouse floor and received a months detention from Sprout. It was rather entertaining to watch the normally easy going Professor Sprout lose it on a student, especially when no body could hear what she was saying. Entwhistle, meanwhile, had been cowering and still looked shocked as they left the greenhouse.

"Congrats mate," Ascella said patting his back as they made their way back to the castle. "A month's detention from the nicest teacher in the school. That's impressive really." Morag shouted in laughter.

"Shut it, Cella," Kevin muttered darkly, his cheeks flushing ever so slightly. Ascella smirked at him in response.

"Oh cheer up! Charms next!" she said tugging her bag higher on her shoulder, as they trudged up the front steps.

Morag rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah. The one class you actually admit to liking," he said.

"You are just jealous that I am better at it than you are," she replied airily.

"You're better at everything than me."

"Hmm, well you're not wrong."

"Glad to see you haven't learned any humility over the summer Ascella," Aaron grinned at her.

"Me? Humility? Never!" she replied pretending to be offended. "You can't change perfection." Their banter carried them to the Charms classroom. Ascella was pleased to see Kevin looked mildly better now, then again he, like Ascella, rather enjoyed Charms.

Walking in Ascella did a double take when she said hello to Flitwick. He had a rather large, green boil on his forehead. Sitting down in her usual seat next to Terry Boot she asked him what had happened.

"Some mishap with the Gryffindor's and Hufflepuffs the class before," he whispered back, his parchment and wand already on the desk they shared. Ascella always sat by Boot in Charms ever since they had realized their mutual love and competency for the subject the year before.

"What? Did someone stab him with their wand?" she asked incredulous, pulling out her own parchment and wand, eyeing Flitwick out of the corner of her eye as he tried to reduce the mark.

Boot shook his head, looking concerned, as Flitwick only managed to reduce the boil a small amount. At least he got rid of the horrid green color; now it just looked like an overgrown zit.

"I don't know," Boot said. They spent the rest of the lesson practicing all the spells from the previous year. Flitwick was so impressed with Ascella and Terry's work that he let them work ahead with the next spell they'd be working on the following week. They also earned five points a piece. Professor Flitwick told Ascella she should think about joining the Charms Club with Boot. Ascella had almost snorted, (her in a school club?) but managed to hold it in as Flitwick was probably her favorite teacher at the school. It didn't help that Terry earnestly told her she should really think about joining, his brown eyes warm with excitement. Somehow she couldn't bring herself to dash the hopes of such a nice boy by snorting, so instead she just gave a close lipped smile in response.

At lunch Ascella marched over to the Gryffindor table and demanded to know what they'd done to Flitwick.

Ron flushed red and Harry, grinning, told Ascella that Ron's broken wand had flown out of his hand and struck Flitwick in the face. Ascella turned horrified to Ron.

"You're lucky it was only a boil!" she said. "And that it didn't hit him in the eye!"

"Oh sod off," Ron mumbled, hunched over his potatoes.

All of sudden a flash went off followed by a click and Ascella was left blinking away tiny little lights. When she could see again she saw a little first year making his way down the Gryffindor table, a camera in his hand. Ascella stared after him her mouth open.

"You weren't kidding," she said to Harry. "That kid is a nutcase."

"I know," Harry said miserably. "He's been popping up everywhere! Between classes, at meals, in the common room, when I'm trying to go to the bathroom..." Ascella snorted.

"We should start calling him Colin Creepy." Harry choked on his juice, while Ascella turned to her own food.

"Merlin, that's perfect!" he said when he could breathe again, meeting her eyes, laughter in his. "Colin Creepy," he said trying out the words. "Yeah, that's a thing now."

"Glad to help," Ascella grinned, spooning a spoonful of mashed yams and brown sugar into her mouth.

The next day was Friday and Ascella had already counted more birthday wishes than the number of people she'd told about her birthday. All of her Ravenclaw friends had met her in the common room and wished her a huge happy birthday.

"But - How did you all know it was my birthday?" Ascella asked confused but with a big smile as her, Padma, Terry, Aaron, and Kevin made their way out the entrance to their common room, headed down to breakfast.

"Potter," Padma replied flippantly. Ascella smiled pleased. Of course it was because of Harry. "Can't believe you weren't going to tell us!" Padma exclaimed.

Ascella laughed. "What and miss an opportunity for blackmail you if you didn't know it was my birthday?" Padma shoved her into Aaron. Ascella stumbled and laughed harder.

"Oh you are so full of yourself, Black," Padma huffed, but Ascella saw the smile tugging at her friends mouth so she knew Padma wasn't really upset.

"And proud of it!" Ascella called ducking behind Terry to dodge any further violence from Padma. Boot rolled his eyes at the pair of them and stepped out of the way.

"Traitor!" Ascella called to Terry, darting away from the group, Padma close behind her.

She managed to lose her friend when she ducked through a secret passage she and Harry had found the year before and arrived in the Great Hall a good ten minutes before the rest of the Ravenclaw second years. She looked to the Gryffindor table but didn't see Harry so she sat down at her own table and proceeded to eat a hearty English birthday breakfast. She was halfway through when she felt someone sit down next to her and put an arm around her.

"Happy Birthday Cells!"

It was Harry. Ascella beamed, returning his hug.

"Thank you!" she said pulling away a little. Then she stared at him. Harry had begun buttering some toast but he turned to her amused when he felt her staring. He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?" he asked innocently.

"I can't believe you told everyone it was my birthday," she said bluntly. He grinned and went back to his toast.

"You're welcome," he said taking a bite of his toast. Ascella couldn't help the smile that radiated across her face. Harry was being so caviler about it all and she was trying to pretend it didn't mean a lot to her that he had cared enough to tell everyone else about her birthday, but it did. It meant a lot, because it meant that he wanted her day to be special and he wanted everyone to know why it was special; he'd gone out of his way to make her birthday better and he hadn't had to. Ascella didn't know what to say to thank him so she leaned her head onto Harry's shoulder and snuggled close to him instead. She felt him smile and she knew that she didn't need to say anything. He knew.

They were shortly joined by the Ravenclaw second years as well as Hermione and Ron, the latter of whom both wished her a cheerful Happy Birthday. The rest of breakfast passed with all of her friends around her chatting and laughing merrily with each other. It was a bit of a strange sight for Ascella because she didn't think she'd ever seen all of them together before. Padma and Terry tended to be around Goldstein and Corner more than Aaron and Kevin, who when they weren't with Ascella were either off alone or hanging with Mandy and Turpin (what Aaron saw worth while in Turpin Ascella couldn't fathom, she was right annoying, even Kevin agreed!) or Aaron's older brother and his friends, and as for Hermione and Ron, she'd never seen them at any table aside from Gryffindor and Harry, who probably got on with everyone the best since he'd spent more time around her Ravenclaw friends, still wouldn't go out of his way to speak to them unless Ascella was with them. Then Ascella realized something, as Padma snorted at a joke Ron had made, it was for _her._ She was the reason they were all brought together. People who would normally never interact were because they all cared about her. Ascella felt a bubble of warmth spread through her insides. She smiled despite herself, not a sassy smile, or a grin, or a smug one, a real genuine smile.

Too bad she wasn't smiling that afternoon as she walked into the Potions dungeon. The only bad thing about her birthday was that it had fallen on a Potions lesson day and she wasn't looking forward to finding out how Snape was planning on torturing her this year. Turns out he was planning on ignoring her. Ascella was quite fine with that. Ascella sat in her usual seat next to Padma, groaning.

"What's with you?" her friend asked snippily. "It's your birthday. That's like everyone's favorite day of the year."

"Yeah but it's still Snape," Ascella replied glaring at the greasy haired man in the front of the room.

Padma's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh yeah, he hates your guts for some unknown reason, right?" she replied also looking at the front. Ascella nodded.

Shortly after that, once all the Hufflepuffs had found their seats, Snape began class. He started off with a brief lecture that had Ascella bored to tears but she didn't dare not take notes, or goof off, like she usually would have, lest Snape give her a detention on her birthday. Even so Ascella only just managed to contain a laugh when she saw MacMillan's hand shoot up into the air.

MacMillan was notorious for asking more questions than anyone else combined in any class. He was a nice bloke but he liked to talk. After his one question had turned into a string of questions Snape cut him off by taking off 5 points from Hufflepuff.

"You'd think he'd learn," Padma said to Ascella. MacMillan looked down at his table his face flushed. Ascella nodded. It seemed this happened at least once a term. MacMillian just couldn't help himself. If Ascella didn't hate Snape so much she might have been grateful to him for getting the boy to shut up, but as it was it just made her hate him more.

Luckily, they all managed to make it through the rest of the double Potions lesson without mishap. Ascella was even able to turn in a vial of her potion to Snape at the end without him trying to break it or mess it up. He didn't even have a sneer for her. Ascella decided she rather liked the silent treatment.

At dinner Ascella slumped down next to Harry at the Gryffindor table and sighed happily.

"Well Snape still hates me," she announced. "but he's showing it by ignoring me, so I think I'll live. Now, what's the menu for my birthday dinner?" Ascella looked around at the spread and smiled in delight. "Oh! Lamb!" She gave herself a healthy helping while Harry laughed at her.

"So when are you going to give me my birthday present?" she asked Harry.

Harry grinned at her sideways from his seat on the bench next to her.

"Later. You did keep this evening open like I asked, right?"

"Er. Yes! Just like you asked." Harry looked at her hard.

"You forgot I asked that didn't you?"

"Noooo, of course not." Harry continued to stare at her, an eyebrow raised.

"Okay yes, but in my defense I was really tired! And as I don't have any plans, no harm, no foul, right?" Ascella beseeched her best friend.

"Whatever," Harry replied, but he was trying to hide a smile so Ascella knew he wasn't really mad.

Later that evening found Ascella walking along a corridor with Harry, her, constantly pestering him about where he was taking her. Harry had started amused but he soon became short with her and was now refusing to respond to any of her questions.

"Well fine -" but she was cut off as Harry dragged her into an empty classroom by a loud "Surprise!"

Ascella stopped dead. The empty classroom wasn't empty that night. No, it was decorated instead with streamers and balloons and even a banner that read 'Happy Birthday, Ascella!' in birthday party pinks, greens, yellows, and blues. And every single one of her friends were there too: Padma grinning at her next to a laughing Terry Boot, Kevin and Aaron were competing with who could greet her the loudest, Hermione and Ron beamed at her and held up a cake with her face on it, even Michael Corner and Anthony Goldstein were there looking cheerful. And they weren't the only people there. Harry must have invited the whole year (aside from the Slytherin's obviously) as Ascella made out Hufflepuffs Hannah Abbot, Ernie MacMillan, Justin Finch-Fletchey, Gabriel Fawley, Megan Jones and others she couldn't remember the names of, as well as Ravenclaws Sue Li, Mandy Brocklehurt and even Lisa Turpin (Ascella managed to only curl her lip a little when she saw that she'd gotten an invite too), as well as all the other Gryffindor's in Harry's year and even a few older students from the twins year, all from a medley of houses ("We never pass up a party, Black!" George had told her. "Besides who do you think provided all the food and refreshments!" Fred had added. Ascella made note to stay away from the refreshments Fred provided, not putting it past him to add a little alcohol to the mix).

Ascella turned to Harry astounded. Harry met her gaze looking right pleased with himself. "Happy Birthday, Ascella," he said smiling at her. "Do you like your present?" Ascella's mouth dropped.

"You. Did all this," she waved her hand around to indicate all the people and the decorations, "for me?" Harry shrugged, blushing but still looking pleased, as he nodded. "With less than three days of preparation?" she continued.

"Well, I had help, but yeah basically," he said, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. Ascella threw her arms around him.

"Thank you," she breathed in his ear.

"You're welcome," he said hugging her back. When she pulled away he told her "Now come on we have a party to enjoy. Also, I'd avoid anything Fred gives you. He's spiked all of those drinks with alcohol for him and his friends. George's drinks should be fine though as he at least knew getting 12 and 13 year olds drunk wasn't a good idea."

"Why am I not surprised?" Ascella grinned, laughing that she'd been right about Fred and his drinks.

And so Ascella let herself be pulled into her birthday party where she was wished happy birthday by kids she barely knew the names of but nevertheless looked to be having fun and allowed herself to enjoy herself. There were games of exploding snap (Ascella creamed everyone), games of truth or dare, gobstones matches and even dancing and other general mucking about. All in all it was a wonderful time and the best birthday Ascella could ever remember having. And it was good to have this night, as in the coming months Ascella would look back and remember it fondly and wonder at how fast everything could take a turn for the worse.

 **a/n This chapter was fun (though the ending is still terrible...mostly last line)! I love using Ascella to add details about the world/story that I have always loved, filling in things that the trio might have experienced but just wasn't written about, especially being able to write about them with Ascella's usual level of sass. :)**

 **At any rate I hope you enjoyed it! But let me know if there is anything I can do to improve the story for you! Or if anything doesn't make sense. I try to keep as canon as possible with the exception that Ascella is a completely new character who does and will continue to slightly affect JK's orignal Harry Potter plot.**

 **A quick heads up too: Gabriel Fawley, who is mentioned this chapter is the little bro of another OC I've yet to get up on this site named Andreana Fawley (goes by Andy). I decided awhile before I posted anything that my two main OC's (Ascella Black and Andreana Fawley) would exist in my same AU universe together, hence the random mention of him with some of the other Hufflepuffs that Jo mentioned in the sorting in the first book.**

 **Also I am aware that Neville only passed out in the movie version of this book but that idea was too hilarious and fit too well with this story so I had to add it!**

 **Also, also is it confusing how I switch between calling Ascella's Ravenclaw friends by their last names to their first names and back again seemingly randomly? I've been trying to use the narrative to emphasize how Ascella doesn't know them as well, except for a few (like Padma, Kevin, Aaron and Terry to some degree) but I've also wanted the readers to have an idea of who they were supposed to be from having read the books, hence the last/full names usage in current chapters even though you've met them chapters ago in the story. So basically I'd love feedback on if you are confused or not with the way I've been referring to them.**


	14. Chapter 14

**a/n so here's another chapter! A little shorter than the last but I'll make up for it later!**

 **disclaimer: you recognize anything it belongs to JK Rowling.**

* * *

October 1992

"Remind me again: Why exactly are we going to a and I quote, a 'Deathday Party' instead of the Halloween feast?" Ascella asked Harry as he, Ron, Hermione, and her trudged their way past the Great Hall, where they could smell the scents of the annual Halloween feast drifting out to them through the open doors. Ron was gazing longingly in that direction and Ascella couldn't help but share his sentiment. Halloween was her favorite holiday and she always loved the feast, where even the food was prepared in a spooky manner, and she was determined that knowledge of what had happened to Harry's and her father all those years ago wouldn't affect her this year.

"Because I promised Nearly Headless Nick I'd go. He did persuade Peeves to make a ruckus near Filch's office, thereby getting me out of detention you know. Besides you said it would be a laugh!" Harry said to her.

"Yes, but that was before I smelled the roasted meats and baked potatoes," Ascella sniffed.

"Oh honestly, you're as bad as Ron," Hermione snipped, striding past her and resolutely following Harry down the stairs to the dungeons. Ascella exchanged a glance with Ron.

"Somebody's got her wand in a knot," she said to him. He laughed.

"Well I guess we'd best get this over with," Ron said unenthusiastically and throwing one more look at the Great Hall they both turned and followed their friends down the stairs.

Ascella warmed up soon enough when they reached their destination. And by warmed up she meant her mood not her body temperature as while the dungeons were generally always, cold this particular room was even more cold due to the plethora of ghosts gliding about in it. No Ascella was warmed up to the idea of being at the Deathday Party.

"Oh this is absolutely fascinating!" Ascella exclaimed looking about at all the ghosts, each of whom had different era dress on, but were still all gathered together in one place. Nick came over and said hello to them almost immediately upon entering the room. He looked right pleased to see them. He was especially flattered by Ascella's open enthusiasm at being there. The others looked at her ask-hence but she ignored them. Sure, she wasn't exactly thrilled to be missing the feast but this didn't seem so bad. Plus they had food!

The four of them made their way over to the table but quickly left as they discovered all the food was rotten. They soon learned that apparently it was this way so that the ghosts could sort of "taste" it by gliding through it.

Ascella made a disgusted face. "How incredibly sad!" she whispered to the others. "Imagine wanting to cling to life so badly that you became a ghost but then never _really_ getting to experience life again? Surely the other option can't be as bad as that!" Hermione made a 'be nice' face at her but she didn't care. It was all just too sad, sure you still got to be on earth, but all your friends die and you aren't really alive as a ghost so what's the point if all the good parts about being alive were taken from you.

"But you know really, aside from the food this is rather entertaining, Oh! 'Mione hide I think I see Moaning Myrtle!" Ascella said ducking behind the taller than her Ron (Harry was still shorter than her much to her delight and his frustration). Hermione's eyes widened as she too scrambled to hide.

Harry and Ron for their part, looked at their friends in confusion.

"Who's Moaning -" Harry started to ask when the ghost in question came up to them. Hermione, being the nicer of the two girls, greeted her. Ascella had pointedly avoided Myrtle's toilet ever since last year when the ghost had startled her while she was relieving herself between classes. She hadn't taken it well ("Never again!" "Never again what Cella?" "Never again will I ever use that toilet, that's what Morag! I've just spent the past ten minutes first being yelled at for the indecency to not check if someone might already be in the stall, despite not thinking I'd need to check for a bloody dead girl, which I pointed out, and then trying to comfort said right crazy ghost only to have the dead girl jump in her toilet and soak me!"). Needless to say Ascella didn't say hi.

A short while later Ascella was decidedly less enthused about this Deathday party after having accidentally walked through her fair share of ghosts at the party. She was downright frozen, her teeth even beginning to chatter together. Now while Ascella had felt as bad for Nick as the others had when Sir Pompy something or other (Ascella hadn't really bothered to find out his exact name) began out showing Nick because he could actually take his head completely off, Nick wasn't her house ghost and as such she was quite ready to leave.

Luckily Harry, Hermione, and Ron were also ready to leave and so while the rest of the ghosts were distracted by the Headless Hunt they ducked out and hurried away. When they reached the landing onto the first floor Ascella was glad to say she'd started to get some feelings back into her toes and fingers.

"Sure is nice being able to feel my hands again," Ascella announced to Harry but she noticed he was no longer walking beside her. "Harry?" she asked turning. Ron and Hermione turned as well. Harry had gone pale and looked like he was listening intently to something.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Ascella asked concerned.

"Don't you hear that?" he asked not meeting her gaze but staring at the wall.

"Hear what?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"That voice! It wants to kill! Come on!" Harry took off at a sprint. The others exchanged looks, eyes wide, before running after him. They might think he was crazy, even if he'd heard some weird voice before after his last Lockhart detention, but they weren't going to let him discover whatever it was on his own.

What they found made them stop dead, the trio a few paces behind Harry. Written on the wall in what looked like blood were the words 'THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.' and at the base of the words a large puddle. It was then that Ascella noticed what was dangling from one of the torch brackets on the wall; Mrs. Norris was hanging by her tail, unmoving, as if frozen her eyes open and staring.

Ascella stood, barely comprehending what she was seeing, when they heard the chorus and excited chatter of students and teachers climbing the stairs and walking along the corridor. The feast must have just ended.

"Of all the luck..." Ascella muttered. "Why are we always at the scene of the crime?" Hermione didn't even have a chance to throw her a scathing look before they were surrounded by the students, who all stopped talking right quick when they realized what was going on.

Everyone was silent until, Draco-bloody-Malfoy shouted out, "'Enemies of the Heir, beware!' You'll be next, Mudbloods!"Ascella barely had time to think 'what a little shithead' before all hell broke loose. First the whispering and then Filch had pushed his way to the front of the crowd. He took one look at Mrs. Norris and began shouting at Harry about how he'd killed his cat.

Ascella didn't take well to that unfounded accusation and angrily stepped forward to stand at her friend's side ready to defend him. She'd barely had her mouth open to retort to Filch when the four of them were ushered by Professor Dumbledore into Lockhart's office ,which was nearby, accompanied by Filch, and Professors Lockhart, Snape, McGonagall, and Flitwick. Ascella had a moment to feel bad for Flitwick, always having to get dragged into these meetings because one of his students (her) had been stupid enough to befriend Harry Potter, she doubted whether any of his other students caused him this much trouble, before Dumbledore began speaking.

He calmly assured Filch that his cat wasn't dead, merely petrified (though this hadn't sounded encouraging to Ascella). Filch still insisted that it was Harry, citing that Harry knew he was a squib. If the situation hadn't been so serious Ascella might have snorted in amusement and laughed but as it was her lips didn't even twitch upward.

Then Snape spoke up. "Perhaps Professor," he said. "Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time." Ascella felt her jaw drop. Snape, defending them? But then he cleared up his motives when he asked why they weren't at the feast.

Harry explained about the Deathday party and about how hundreds of ghosts had seen them there. Then Snape, nuisance that he was, had to be a wise guy and ask why they hadn't attended the feast after. Ascella closed her eyes and hoped Harry had the good sense not to tell them that he'd been hearing voices. He at least knew that much but his excuse of being not hungry was weak. Luckily Dumbledore seemed to be on their side.

"Innocent until proven guilty Severus." He then proceeded to promise Filch that once the Mandrakes Professor Sprout had were old enough, a restorative potion would be made that would restore Mrs. Norris to as good as new. They were then allowed to leave but Ascella wasn't allowed to go with the others as McGonagall suggested Flitwick escort her back to her tower, no doubt knowing she still spent more time in the Gryffindor common room than her own, but saying it under the guise that no student should be wandering the halls alone. Ascella made a pained expression behind Flitwick's back at Harry before dutifully following her head of house.

Truth be told she didn't mind having Flitwick take her to the tower, at least this way she knew she'd get in. She was going to miss getting to talk to the others about what was going on though but she figured she'd catch up with them on the morrow. At the knocker Flitwick wished her a goodnight and she entered her common room.

Ascella was met by the startled faces of her fellow second year Ravenclaws. All of them were strangely silent and she knew they'd been talking before she got there. She slumped down on a coach next to Terry, her head falling into her hand, ignoring all of their expectant faces.

"Well?" Padma finally demanded.

"Well what?" Ascella said suspiciously.

"Well, are you going to tell us what's going on or what?" Padma clarified.

"I know about as much as you." Ascella sighed. Turpin snorted in disbelief. Ascella's eyes narrowed as she turned to look at the girl.

"Have a problem do you?" Ascella said coldly. Turpin met Ascella's cold gray eyes with her boring brown ones.

"Oh please. Don't act so innocent. You were there when it was discovered. Of course you know more than us. Especially seeing as how Potter was involved." Ascella felt her anger spike.

"If you are implying that we somehow had something to do with it, then you can just get out." Turpin sneered, but she rose to leave anyway. Ascella continued to glare at her until she disappeared through the door to the girls dorms.

"Why is she so awful?" Ascella asked the group not caring that Mandy, Turpin's best friend, was in the group.

"Well she does sort of have a point..." Goldstein hesitantly said. Ascella turned disbelieving to him. Goldstein shrank away from her. He'd always been a bit intimidated by Ascella. "Not saying it was you but it was suspicious! I mean why else would Dumbledore have pulled you four away?"

"I'll have you know Dumbledore doesn't suspect us at all," Ascella hotly replied.

"He's not saying that he does," Corner said quickly coming to his friend's defense. "Just that the whole thing is a bit unsettling." Ascella had opened her mouth to retort but she was cut off by Terry.

"Ascella, why don't you just tell us what _did_ happen." She turned and met his warm brown eyes and felt herself calm down a little. He was right. Besides she'd wanted to talk about this anyway, might as well be with the smartest kids in school.

She took a deep breath and began, careful to not mention Harry hearing voices no one else could hear. "I honestly don't know what's going on. The four of us were just heading back from the Gryffindor ghosts Deathday party in the dungeons when we stumbled upon the words and Mrs. Norris. We'd barely been there before the rest of you showed up. And that's about it." Ascella looked at the group. They all looked a bit frightened and then began speaking all at once.

"Was she dead?" (Mandy).

"What did that stuff about the Chamber of Secrets mean?" (Goldstein).

"Who's the heir of Slytherin?" (Padma).

"What did Dumbledore want?" (Aaron).

"Did you get in trouble?" (Kevin).

Ascella held up a hand and they all stopped.

"No, she's not dead. Petrified. Apparently they will be able to revive her with some potion once the Mandrakes are old enough. Dumbledore just wanted to know how we'd found her, if we'd seen anything. Snape was the one who wanted to know where we'd been. And as for the rest? I don't know. It's a bit weird though even the teachers were acting frightened. And now that I think about it, it was a bit weird Dumbledore didn't suspect us, it was almost like he _knew_ it couldn't be us."

The group all sat back thinking.

"Maybe he can use Legilimency?" Beth Vance suggested.

"Yeah but he wouldn't use it on a student," Corner answered.

"Petrified?" Entwhistle asked. "What's that mean?" Sometimes Ascella forgot Kevin didn't know stuff like that being muggleborn.

"Basically like being frozen," Aaron answered him. "Or stunned for an extended period of time. Unlike being stunned though you can only be revived by a Potion. It's pretty advanced magic. I've heard some magical creatures have the ability to cause it as well." Ascella had also forgotten that about certain subjects Morag was like an encyclopedia for them. One of those subjects happened to be magical creatures and ailments.

"But what's the Chamber of Secrets?" Padma asked. "And who's the heir of Slytherin?"

No one had any idea. They all sat around for a bit longer throwing ideas out there but around midnight, when it became clear they weren't any closer to an answer, they decided to all head to bed. As Ascella crawled bleary eyed into her fourposter, she could only hope that Harry and the others had better luck brainstorming than she and her Ravenclaw friends.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: own nothing. You recognize it, it's Jos! Now enjoy!**

* * *

 **November 1992**

It turned out that they hadn't. And what was worse was that Hermione informed them that all the libraries copies of _Hogwarts, A History_ were checked out. They weren't the only ones who wanted to know more about this Chamber business. Ascella even asked her Ravenclaw friends if they had one of the copies but apparently the older students had gotten a hold of them first.

"What we really need is an expert on history to just tell us what's going on," Hermione said into her porridge a few days later after informing them about her lack of progress in the library. Ascella sat up suddenly from where she'd been slumped on the table.

"'Mione! That's it! You are a genius!" Hermione crinkled her brow in confusion.

"Um, I am?" she asked dubious as she watched Ascella hastily pack her bag and rise from the table. Harry and Ron were looking at her with equal confusion.

"Yes!" Ascella exclaimed and grabbing a piece of toast from Harry's plate, rushed off with a quick, "I'll explain later!" and with a wave she was gone, leaving her friends staring after her, almost comical looks of confusion on their faces.

She soon caught up to Entwhistle and Morag on the way to History of Magic, her toast half finished. Adjusting her bag higher on her shoulder and throwing her blond hair over one shoulder she leaned into Aaron.

"I bet you Kev will be awake all class today," she said under her breath. Aaron turned to her stunned.

"Are you serious?" he asked incredulous.

"Dead serious," she replied with confidence. A smile slipped across Aaron's face.

"You're on."

Ascella and the other two sat in their usual back of the classroom seats and proceeded to not bother taking their parchment out as Morag and Ascella only ever used it for hangman or tic tac toe and Entwhistle was always asleep. About five minutes into the lecture Ascella grinned at Morag and primly raised her hand. Morag looked at her like she was crazy, even Entwhistle stared at her in sleepy surprise.

"Excuse me? Professor Binns?" Ascella said in a respectful tone she only used when she wanted something. Binns for his part stopped speaking about Goblin Wars and blinked at her.

"Yes, Miss McKinnon?" Ascella started, but managed to hide her surprise with a sweet smile as she lowered her hand. She didn't want to think about why he thought she was her mother.

"Professor, I was just wondering what you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?" The entire class sat up straighter, their focus suddenly riveted on Professor Binns, even the Slytherin's. Ascella did note though that Malfoy merely leaned back looking smug, as if he knew all he needed to know about the Chamber. Ascella bet it was all for show; unless he _was_ the Heir of Slytherin then surely he couldn't know everything.

"Why it's just a myth. Absolute nonsense!" Binns dismissed her question with a touch of derision.

"But Professor, surely some of it is based in fact? And seeing as someone claims it to have been opened, don't you think it could be worth our while to learn more about it. Legend or otherwise. Surely, you must agree that there is some truth that can be learned from legends?" Ascella went on in her most persuasive voice. Ascella could be very convincing when she wanted to be. It probably helped her case that her fellow Ravenclaws were practically on the edge of their seats in anticipation for what Binns could tell them, and Ascella could see Binns was beginning to relent at their attention. Enwhistle in particular looked to be the furthest from sleep he had ever been in History of Magic.

"Well, yes I suppose it wouldn't hurt to explain a little bit. I suppose I need to begin with the founding of the school. Yes. You see Hogwarts was founded by four friends; Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salzar Slytherin. The four of them started this school to teach magic to young witches and wizards. It is from them who we get our four houses. You see they all had students that they valued more, the ones that they wanted to teach. Slytherin, in particular, harnessed strong belief's that only those deemed 'pure-bloods' should be taught." Malfoy and his cronies snorted in laughter and agreement. Ascella shot him a nasty glare. Zabini caught her eyes as she turned from them. He looked as unemotional as ever.

"It was this more than anything that caused Slytherin to leave the school. It is also said that this was the cause of the years of house rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Now, is where we dive into legend. The legend is thus; when Slytherin left, he built a secret chamber in the castle, a chamber that housed a horrible monster. It is said that only the so called 'Heir of Slytherin' would be able to awaken the horror to take Slytherin's revenge."

"Revenge, sir?" Anthony Goldstein asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Isn't it obvious," Malfoy sneered at Goldstein. "Slytherin only wanted purebloods. Better watch out Entwhistle." Malfoy shot a smug smile at Kevin. Kevin paled but still managed a rude gesture in response, out of sight of Binns, not that Binns was likely to have noticed anyway even with the class paying so much attention to his words. Ascella was proud of him; she knew how the "mudblood" comment from the night before had unnerved him.

"Yes, Mr. Crabcake is quite right," Binns continued, while Ascella and her friends choked on laughter. Malfoy's face lost some of its haughtiness at being called Crabcake. "The legend is that the creature would attack those students who came from non-magical families, that is to say muggleborns."

"But sir, surely there is no creature that would only affect muggleborns?" Terry Boot asked.

"Of course there is no such creature," Binns scoffed. "The legend says that the creature would be controlled by the Heir. But of course the castle has been searched and no secret room has been discovered." But no one was listening anymore as furious chatter commenced, everyone turning to their friends and beginning to whisper about what kind of creature could possibly be in the alleged "Chamber of Secrets". Malfoy continued to look smug, while Zabini had turned back to his books.

Ascella surveyed Malfoy while Binns tried and failed to get the class back under control. "He knows something," she said with distaste.

"Most definitely," Aaron agreed an equally dark expression on his face. He hadn't taken to Malfoy threatening his best friend.

"At any rate," Ascella said evilly to Aaron. "I believe you owe me."

Aaron looked confused, then he cursed viciously while Ascella cackled.

Later, at lunch, Ascella explained to Harry, Ron and Hermione why she'd run off like she had at breakfast. She didn't have enough time to tell them exactly what Binns had shared with her class in the morning but she did tell Hermione to ask Binns for the explanation.

"Oh that was a good idea! Why didn't I think of that?" Hermione had asked when Ascella had suggested it.

"You sort of did 'Mione," Ascella had assured her friend. "It was only because of you that I got the idea in the first place." At the end of lunch they decided to meet back at the scene of Mrs. Norris's petrification after all of their afternoon lessons were finished.

"You know, I've been hearing the strangest rumors today," Ascella mused to Harry and the others when she met up with them.

"Oh really," Harry said his eyes trained on the floor, his bag sitting on the floor behind him.

"Yeah," she continued, looking at him, while Hermione walked away from them searching for clues as well. "People are suggesting _you_ are the Heir of Slytherin." Ascella snorted and laughed at the absurd idea, expecting Harry to join in. Instead he grimaced, his eyes briefly flicking to hers before looking back to floor.

"Well, that would explain why Justin Finch-Fletchley ran away from me at lunch," Harry replied miserably.

"Ugh," Ascella sneered, thinking distastefully of the Hufflepuff. "Don't worry Harry, Finch-Fletchley was always too gullible anyway."

"People here are idiots," Ron added in support of his friend.

"Seriously," Ascella agreed. "So what are we looking for?" she asked hoping to change the subject and distract Harry.

Harry crouched down to look closer and shaking his head said, "I don't know exactly. Just something that might make this make more sense. Look here -" he said pointing out black streaks on the stone floor. "Scorch marks!" Ascella bent to look closer when both of their attentions were drawn away by Hermione who'd noticed something by the window next to the wall the words were written on.

Hermione pointed to the upper window where a cluster of spiders were seemingly trying to fight there way outside through a small crack in the wall.

"Ever seen spiders act like that?" Hermione asked curious.

Ascella and Harry replied they hadn't. When they turned to ask Ron, they found him standing well away from them, a look of utmost terror on his face.

Ascella wanted to laugh but Harry asked him what was wrong. When he admitted he didn't like live spiders because of "the way they move..." Ascella couldn't help but let out a shout of laughter. She wasn't the only one as Hermione began giggling as well.

"It's not funny!" Ron glared at them. "If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my - my teddy bear into a giant big filthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick... You wouldn't like them either if you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and..." He stopped talking and shuddered.

Ascella started laughing harder, while Hermione pointedly avoided her eyes and tried her best to curb her own laughter. Ascella made note to congratulate Fred on forever scaring his younger brother with a fear of spiders of all things. Ascella herself had always found spiders oddly fascinating, far from creepy.

Harry, being the peace keeper that he was though, quickly diffused the situation and reminded them about all the water that had been on the floor the night of the attack. He pointed out it had since been mopped up and wondered where it had come from.

Ron pointed out the door behind where the puddle had seemed to originate from. Ascella followed his gesture and groaned.

"What?" Harry asked, stepping closer to the door.

"I'm not going in there," she stated with finality.

"Why?" Harry asked. Hermione giggled again, realizing where the door led.

"Because it's Moaning Myrtle's toilet," she answered for Ascella a twinkle in her eye. "And Ascella refuses to go in there."

"Too right!" Ascella said, crossing her arms defiantly. "You lot go on ahead though," she added seeing Harry hesitant to go without her. "I'll wait here and keep guard or whatever." Harry nodded and followed Hermione into the lavatory, Ron following behind looking only mildly unsettled at entering a girls toilet.

Once the door had shut behind them, Ascella settled in to wait leaning casually against the wall under the red words that still shown, and began to survey the nails of her left hand.

She didn't even bother looking up when she heard a pair of feet marching with purpose down the corridor. Not even when those footsteps started and stopped not far from her.

"Bl-Black! What are you doing here?" the someone sputtered at her. Ascella looked up from under her eyelashes, looking ever so elegantly bored. It was Ron's older brother and prefect Percy Weasley.

"Not that it's any of your business _Perce_ ," Ascella started lazily, enjoying the way Percy's eyes widened giving him the air of looking a bit like a bug, "but I am standing here," she finished like it was obvious. Which it was. Percy's mouth shut with a snap, his chest puffing up. Ascella waited with a smirk on her face for what he would say then.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how one looked at it, that was when the other three of Ascella's friends walked out of Moaning Myrtle's toilet. Percy turned and stopped dead at the sight of his younger brother walking out of a girls lavatory. Ascella felt a strange desire to laugh but she figured she shouldn't push her luck and managed to hold it in.

She was almost done in by Ron's complete lack of caring that his brother had caught him coming out of a girls toilet, even though he himself had been hesitant to go in in the first place. Ascella watched as the two brothers commenced bickering after that, her mouth dropping in shock when Percy docked five points from Gryffindor before departing.

"Prat," Ascella breathed, her words directed at the back of Percy's retreating form. "I mean, I know prefects have the right to take points from their own house but I've never known one to actually _do_ it, especially from ones own _brother_."

"Yeah, well that's Percy for you," Ron said darkly, his ears red. "Come on let's go to dinner," he added turning and walking away. The other three exchanged wide eyed looks and proceeded to follow him.

Ascella said good-bye to the trio at the Ravenclaw table telling Harry she'd promised to eat dinner with Padma and Terry Boot. He nodded and told her he'd see her later.

Later turned out to be the next day in Transfiguration, where they sat in the back of the classroom in their usual seats whispering furiously to each other. Harry was telling Ascella what Hermione had suggested the previous evening back in Gryffindor common room, a plan for how to get inside the Slytherin common room to find out if Malfoy had anything to do with the Chamber of Secrets.

"What? Polyjuice Potion?" Ascella hissed at him. "But there's no way a teacher would let second years check out a book with _that_ recipe. It's really advanced and dangerous if brewed improperly."

"True but we have the two smartest witches in school helping to make it," Harry whispered back, grinning at her. Ascella preened.

"Well, of course," she said, knowing he meant her and Hermione. "But still, what teacher would be thick enough to sign off on checking out that book?"

Harry grinned at her. "Lockhart," he said simply. Ascella blinked. Then grinned back at him.

"Brilliant," she said knowing they had Defense later that day. It really was the perfect plan. Ascella had opened her mouth to tell Harry so when she felt more than saw McGonagall walk up to them.

"Potter. Black," she said looking between the two of them. Harry grimaced before joining Ascella in looking up at their stern Transfiguration professor, her hands on her hips.

"Since you are so inclined to talk Miss Black, would you care to tell me about how to properly transfigure small animals into inanimate objects such as water goblets."

"Well, of course Professor," Ascella said smoothly before proceeding on a long winded explanation about the best spells to use, naming more than the ones McG had yet taught them, and even going into detailed explanations about the mass to mass transfer that must occur to take it from one animal to the inanimate object and finishing with an explanation of how one's focus must change depending on what type of animal is chosen, for instance birds tend to be easier than mammals because of their less complex anatomy. And no, Ascella hadn't taken a single note throughout the entire class, but she had been reading about and transfiguring small animals into small objects for at least a year now.

When Ascella closed her mouth, finished, even McGonagall looked mildly impressed, even going so far as to award Ascella five points to Ravenclaw before walking briskly away.

"How do you do that?" Harry asked in awe, once McG was far enough away, her back to them.

"It's a gift," she replied airily, smiling satisfied.

Later, in Defense found Ascella and Ron leaning into each other trying, and failing, to not laugh at Harry, the werewolf. Ever since the first class with the Pixies, Lockhart had taken to reading from his books and acting out the scenes, and he loved to use Harry to help him. On this particular day Harry was a werewolf and to appease Lockhart he was doing a much more enthusiastic impression than he usually would normally have, much to the delight of Ascella and Ron in the back of the classroom. Hermione kept shooting them cold looks that did nothing to stop their laughter.

After, when Harry trudged back to them Ascella couldn't help but flutter her eyelashes at him and say, "Oh Harry, you were simply brilliant! Could you sign this spare bit of parchment here?"

"Shut it," Harry muttered flushing, while Ron and Ascella howled with laughter. "Look let's just get this over with," he added. And so they did, while Lockhart prattled on giving Harry advice for his upcoming Quidditch match against Slytherin the following day. Ascella tried, and failed, to not roll her eyes. But then they had the signature and they all proceeded to rush out of the room.

"I can't believe it," Harry said in the corridor, looking at the signature. "He didn't even so much as _glance_ at what book we wanted."

Ascella snorted. "It's not like he'd even know what was in it anyway."

"Yeah, he's a brainless _git_ ," Ron added causing Hermione to defend Lockhart. Ascella just shook her head at her friend. For such a smart girl, she sure had her moments of stupidity, namely _still_ thinking Lockhart was a genius.

They retrieved the book from Madam Pince with little hardship, other than Hermione wanting to keep Lockhart's signature for Merlin only knew why.

Then they dragged an unhappy Ascella into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Only the anticipation of getting a look at a book even Ted wouldn't have brought home from the Wizarding library for her to read, and the fact that she had to admit that it was rather a good idea to use the bathroom for the brewing, no one would bother them there, could get Ascella into that lavatory again. Luckily, Ascella found it easy to ignore Moaning Myrtle's crying once Hermione opened up the book.

"Wicked," she breathed looking at the drawings of people halfway through transformations before surveying the potion. She had to agree with Hermione when she said it was one of the most complicated potion she'd ever seen, but Ascella was still confident.

"The only problem I see is going to be getting the bits of whoever we want to turn into and all the ingredients we are going to have to steal," Ascella said still reading from the page. "Shredded skin of a boomslang is not in the students' cupboard. Probably in Snape's private stores though..." she trailed off, reading further down the page.

"Steal?" Harry cut in sounding worried. "From Snape's private stores? I don't know if this is a good idea." Hermione slammed the book shut, startling Ascella backwards, a breeze of musty page smell floating across her face.

While Ascella had been thinking only of the potion apparently Hermione had picked up on the other two's doubts about going through with this plan. But Hermione was soon able to convince Harry and Ron with a tenacity and ferocity Ascella was rather proud of, that there plan was worth the risks.

"Alright," Ascella said brightly, "now that that's settled I say we get out of here and on with the plan! In about a month we will have our answers!" The others agreed, Harry and Ron no doubt glad to get away from Hermione's intense gaze, and so the four of them exited the toilet and headed down to dinner.

The next day found Ascella sitting in the Quidditch stands with Ron and Hermione and the other Gryffindor's decked out in Gryffindor scarlet and gold, ribbons of it braided into her long blond hair, hoping the mugginess in the air held off on the rain until after the match.

"Boy, I hope this isn't a slaughter," Ascella commented.

Ron, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, and even Neville Longbottom turned to glare at her.

"What?" she held up her hands nonplussed. "Malfoy did happen to buy them all the top of the line brooms and even you guys have to admit that the Slytherin team is always at least decent, not to mention they play dirty." The glaring continued. "Obviously the Gryffindor players are better though!" she added.

That seemed to satisfy the boys and they turned back to the match that was just beginning, Finnigan mumbling a "Too right!"

Ascella turned to the game as well just as the whistle blew to start the game, only muttering a "sheesh!" to a nervous looking Hermione. She'd only wanted to point out that she hoped everything went well.

It soon became evident that no, everything was not going to go well. Not more than five minutes into the game and it became obvious one of the Bludgers was trying to kill Harry. It had quickly escalated to the point where neither Fred nor George could leave Harry's side without fear of the Bludger slamming into him.

Ascella was too concerned with what was going on with Harry that she almost missed the fact that Slytherin now led by sixty points to zero. Ascella swore.

"Slytherin clearly tampered with that Bludger, so they could take advantage of Harry and both the beaters being essentially out of the game completely," she said angrily. Ron nodded along, too angry to even speak, his ears growing red. Hermione meanwhile was chewing on her nails and mumbling about how she new a spell but it was too risky while the Bludger was in play. They were all on edge so much so that they didn't notice the fat heavy drops of rain that had begun to fall.

Finally, the Gryffindor team called a timeout. "Good," Ascella said. "Maybe they'll be able to come up with a way to end this game sooner rather than later and as safely as they can."

Unfortunately, it soon became evident that Harry had just told Fred and George to let him fend for himself which was indeed not the safe way Ascella had imagined. Then again she had to admit it did highlight Harry's flying skills, as he ducked, spun, dodged and even twirled around the pitch to both avoid the Bludger and search for the snitch.

And then Harry froze, looking towards Malfoy. Ascella saw what would happen the instant before it did. The Bludger slammed into Harry's arm. Ascella winced with the Gryffindor's, sure Harry's arm had just been broken. But then Harry dove towards Malfoy, who scrambled out of the way and then Harry made a mad grab for the Snitch, both hands off his broom, before he slammed into the ground throwing up a splash of mud, his one arm bent at a weird angle.

Ascella's hand went to her mouth and before she knew it she was moving through the crowd trying to get down to Harry before someone else did. She was too late though, as she saw Harry come to with Lockhart standing above him, with Creepy snapping away on his camera. Ascella was just glad that Fred and George had managed to somehow wrangle the rogue Bludger down and were now trying to get it away in the Quidditch box.

Ascella pushed her way through the crowd around Harry just as Lockhart performed a spell on Harry's arm. Her eyes widened in horror. It was clear whatever he'd been trying to do hadn't worked; he'd removed Harry's bones instead of healing them.

Ascella glared at him, even as he spotted her, Hermione and Ron and asked them to escort Harry up to the Hospital Wing.

"What a twit," Ascella ranted as they helped a slightly delirious Harry up to the Hospital Wing. To say Madam Pomfrey was displeased would be an understatement. She told Harry he'd have to stay the night and shoved a beakerful of a potion called Skele-Gro into his hand and instructed him to drink. Based on the face Harry made it didn't taste so good.

"Here's some water," Ascella said handing him a goblet full of water. He thanked her with a grateful smile before gulping it down.

Shortly after the Gryffindor Quidditch team came in laden down with sweets and bottles of pumpkin juice. George complimented Harry's flying and mentioned how Flint was yelling at Malfoy for having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing it. Ascella grinned and laughed with Harry at that.

But it wasn't to last as Madam Pomfrey returned and shouted them all out of the Hospital Wing. They begrudgingly went, Ascella wishing Harry a good night as they went. Ascella bid her Gryffindor friends goodbye on the fifth floor as she'd spotted Padma and Sue Li down the corridor.

"I didn't know you were friends with the Weasley twins," Sue inquired curiously. Padma tried to hid a grin behind the girl but Ascella caught it. Ascella contained her own grin and shrugged.

"Eh, I wouldn't call us _friends_ exactly. But yeah we are on speaking terms. I spent some days at Ron's place this summer playing Quidditch with them." Sue Li looked at her like this was her greatest dream come true. Ascella tried not to laugh. She knew a lot of girls had crushes on the Weasley twins but she'd never been one to idolize them. Besides she knew George had just started to date his long term friend Hufflepuff fourth year, Andreana Fawley, older sister to Gabriel who was in their year, and wasn't likely to not be dating the pretty brunette anytime soon. As for Fred, well Ascella had a feeling he liked a certain black haired chaser on the Gryffindor team, but he just wasn't ready to settle down yet. Ascella told Sue Li as much hoping to perhaps persuade the girl to give up her silly crush. It didn't appear to work, but Ascella figured she'd tried and she guessed maybe everyone needed a silly crush, no matter how off the radar the crusher was to the crush.

The next morning at breakfast Ascella, Ron, and Hermione overheard McGonagall telling Flitwick about the most recent attack, this one on Colin Creepy. They'd all exchanged wide eyed looks and grabbing a stack of toast each they made for Myrtle's toilet figuring they'd best get started on the Polyjuice Potion sooner rather than later.

Harry joined them around midmorning with some rather unsettling news to add. The Chamber had been opened before and Dobby had been the one behind the barrier in King's Cross and behind the rogue Bludger.

Ron and Hermione were more interested in the fact that the Chamber had been opened before but Ascella was more intrigued by the house elf.

"So let me get this straight," she said "The house elf thinks he's trying to _help_ you? By basically trying to _kill_ you?"

"Yeah," Harry answered. "I told you he doesn't seem like the sanest of creatures really. Keeps trying to injure himself whenever he says he's said too much." Ascella chuckled shaking her head, while Hermione looked sad before they continued to discuss the Chamber, with the bubbling of the Polyjuice Potion and Myrtle's faint sobs as background noise, all of them agreeing the sooner it was done the sooner they could get some answers.

* * *

 **a/n So just so you know Andreana Fawley is the other O/C I mentioned. She and her brother both exist in Ascella's world.**


	16. Chapter 16

**disclaimer: you recognize it, it is not mine! Thank JK for that.**

 **a/n bit of a longer chapter this time, but not too much not related the Chamber plot. There will be a lot next chapter that is all Ascella's though! Anyway hope everyone enjoys!**

* * *

 **December 1992**

The news of the latest attack spread like wildfire through the school, effectively terrifying everyone, the first years especially, Ginny Weasley included. Fred and George had taken it upon themselves to try and cheer her up by covering themselves with grotesque fur or boils and jumping out at her from behind statues. While Ascella found it hilarious she also had to agree with Harry that it probably wasn't the most effective way of cheering up the poor first year Gryffindor.

With the growing fear a new trade in talismans, amulets and other supposed protective devices had sprung up among the students of Hogwarts. Ascella thought it was ridiculous what people would believe would actually protect them; like a rotting newt tail was _really_ going to be effective against a monster that could petrify people.

During the second week of December, Ascella breathlessly told the others that Malfoy would be staying at the school over Christmas break, after she'd overheard him mention it in Herbology. "Something about his parents spending the holidays in the far North on Ministry business and him being just ' _too bored to be bothered_ '," she said. "It's obvious though that's just a cover. He wants to stay here and attack more people." And so the four of them eagerly signed up to stay the holidays knowing it would be the perfect time to use the potion and question Malfoy.

Which meant they needed to steal the bicorn horn and boomslang skin, the last two ingredients they needed, from Snape's private stores. Ascella and Hermione decided the best way would be for Harry and Ron to create a diversion during one of the Gryffindor/Slytherin double Potions lessons so that Hermione, who would be the least suspicious of any of them, could duck in and steal the ingredients they needed.

The plan went off without anyone getting in trouble, despite Harry feeling sure Snape knew it was him who'd thrown the firework into Goyle's Swelling Solution. Ascella had been rather put out she'd missed Malfoy's nose swelling up when he'd been hit in the face by the potion but was still glad they hadn't gotten caught.

She was decidedly less glad the next day when she was in her own Potions lesson, brewing her own Swelling Solution with Padma. Snape was in a right foul mood as he stalked around the dungeon classroom. He'd already taken off fifteen points from Ravenclaw because Ascella wasn't following instructions, even though she was.

"You've got to be joking," Ascella finally snapped at him, after he took five more, not caring as Snape's lip curled dangerously. "Not following instructions my arse!" she all but shouted at the greasy git, despite Padma pulling on her robe to get her to stop. Ascella shook her off. "No, I've been following your directions perfectly. Sure, I know a way that could make it faster and allow you to leave out the third puffer fish eye, but I've decided to follow _your_ instructions instead!" Ascella finished her face flushed, wisps of her blond hair floating around her face in the steam rising from her cauldron and perfectly brewed Swelling Solution.

Snape, meanwhile, looked like Christmas had come early. Ascella swallowed, suddenly a bit nervous.

"I think a further ten points from Ravenclaw," Snape began. Ascella drew in a sharp breath, why couldn't she have kept her mouth shut? "And," Snape continued his eyes shiny with anticipation, "I believe a month's worth of Saturday detentions should teach you to not disrespect me in my classroom." Ascella opened and closed her mouth in shock.

"But, sir," she finally spit out, her mouth protesting against the term of respect but knowing enough to not push her luck at this point, "there isn't a month worth of Saturday's before break."

Snape merely grinned evilly at her. "Then you'll just have to complete them next term," he said before sweeping away to terrorize some Hufflepuff students. Ascella didn't speak for the rest of class, stewing in her misfortune.

"Eck!" she said throwing herself down into an armchair next to Harry in the Gryffindor common room after her first Saturday detention later that week. Harry wrinkled his nose at her.

"What's that smell?" he asked. Ascella glared.

"I had to sort out rotten Flobberworms from good ones. Without gloves," Ascella said shuddering at the memory.

"Ugh," Harry said scooting his chair away from her.

"Thanks, mate," she said dryly, pulling out her wand to perform a simple scouring charm to her hands for the umpteenth time.

"I don't know what'll be worse, more detentions with Snape or the fact that he's given me over to Filch for the first two of next term," Ascella complained, scrubbing at her hands.

"Honestly, probably Snape," Harry said. "Filch's are bad but at least he hates all students equally, unlike Snape."

"True," Ascella said. "So, looking forward to the dueling club meeting?" she asked changing the subject. They'd all seen the notices that had been put up about the new dueling club that was starting, the first meeting being held the middle of the next week.

"Yeah," Harry said a gleam of excitement entering his green eyes. "I don't know what good it would do against whatever's been attacking the students but it should be fun nonetheless." Ascella nodded in agreement.

Then Harry asked her suddenly if she'd come up with someone to "get a bit of" for her to change into with the Polyjuice Potion. She grinned evilly at him.

"Oh yeah," she said. "Zabini. I have a plan for getting a hair from him in Herbology this week." Harry started at that.

"That dark, haughty one?" he asked.

Ascella nodded.

"Isn't he going home for break?"

Ascella shrugged.

"Yeah, but I figure if anyone asks I'll just say 'I' decided to come back early. By the time any of them figure out I wasn't really Zabini it won't matter as we will have the information we need, should everything go to plan of course."

Harry didn't have an argument against that and they spent the next few hours talking and goofing off before joining Ron, the twins (Sue Li would be dying if she was there, Ascella couldn't help but think, sniggering), and their friend Lee Jordan in a rousing game of Exploding Snap.

A few days later Ascella sat at the Ravenclaw table feeling more nervous for Herbology than usual. Today was her last day of Herbology before the term ended and the day she planned on getting a bit of Zabini's hair.

"What's with you?" Aaron Morag asked her when she'd once again had to ask him to repeat what he'd just said, so distracted was she watching Zabini walking in front of them with the other students, all on their way to greenhouse three.

"Huh?" Ascella oh so eloquently said looking at the tall blond. "Oh, nothing," she replied realizing what he'd asked. She turned back to staring a hole in the back of Zabini's head, not noticing Aaron and Kevin exchange looks over her head, shaking their heads at her.

Ascella continued to watch Zabini for the ideal moment during the lesson when she could pounce and steal some hair. And the moment finally came when he was busy wrestling a rather rotund Mandrake into a new pot with the help of Aaron and Kevin. The Mandrake's had been growing larger and maturing and to Ascella's immense displeasure it was time to re-pot them; again.

"Oh no - don't bother even- pretending- to help," Aaron grunted at her as he and the other two lifted the little bugger, speaking loud enough for even Ascella to hear him through her earmuffs. Ascella smiled at him and discreetly pulled out her wand and aimed a silent cutting spell at the back of Zabini's hair. With pleasure she saw a chunk of hair fall onto his shoulder. Ascella put her wand away quickly. Now just to get it.

After the boys had gotten the Mandrake into the pot, all panting, Kevin and Aaron bent double, Ascella decided to act. Zabini stood and wiped a trail of sweat off his forehead while Ascella leaned in with an innocent smile and brushed off the shoulders of Zabini's robes. He froze, looking at her like she was crazy.

She beamed up at him and even giggled a little. "Just helping. You had some dirt on your robes," she said. Zabini continued to stare at her a strange look in his gold eyes but Ascella didn't care as she secretly tucked his hair into a vial in the pocket of her robes. Success, she thought giddy.

Later that week, Ascella found herself with her fellow Ravenclaw second years making their way down to the Great Hall to the first meeting of the dueling club. She'd told Harry and the others she'd see them down there deciding to accompany Aaron and Kevin down instead.

They joined what felt like the entirety of the rest of the school in the Great Hall, all with their wands out and chattering with excitement. Moving through the crowd they found and joined Padma, Terry, and his friends Michael and Anthony. Ascella spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione across the stage that had been set up and waved cheerily at them.

She was more than a little disappointed, not moments later, to learn that Lockhart was the teacher in charge of this meeting.

"Oh, this'll be a disaster," she muttered to Aaron and Kevin, who sniggered in agreement. Padma meanwhile looked like she was in heaven. Ascella had yet to have any luck killing her friends Lockhart obsession, but she still held out hope.

Then Lockhart announced that Snape was to be his assistant and that he would be helping him with a demonstration before the rest would begin. Ascella exchanged a look with Harry across the stage, but both had to look away for fear of laughing outright. Ascella had no doubt that Snape could more than easily finish off Lockhart, incompetent teacher that he was.

After Lockhart explained the basics of dueling, they began. Before Lockhart even had so much as an opportunity to open his mouth, Snape shouted "Expelliarmus!" The resulting flash of red light sent Lockhart flying off his feet, off the stage and into the wall. Malfoy led a cheer by the Slytherins; Ascella almost wanted to join them, instead she settled for a big grin.

After that, Lockhart instructed them to pair off. Luckily she got paired up with Aaron, but she did see that Snape paired Harry with Malfoy. That won't end well, she thought before Lockhart counted them down.

ON Lockhart's three Ascella easily disarmed Aaron, much to his chagrin and while he went in search of his wand, Ascella took a look around at the ensuing chaos. There were those pairs who had managed weak versions of the disarming spell like Ascella had, leaving their partners to go in search of where their wands had flown off to, but then there were those pairs like Harry and Malfoy that hadn't even bothered with trying to disarm, jumping into other curses and jinxes, and even some like Hermione and Millicent Bulstrode who had forgotten their wands entirely and had ended up wrestling. Ascella grimaced as she saw Bulstrode put Hermione in a headlock. Luckily, Lockhart has called time and Harry was able to wrestle the bigger girl off of their friend before any lasting damage occurred.

Lockhart seemed to realize that perhaps a little more structure might be in order and so he suggested they have a pair come up to demonstrate both disarming and blocking. Ascella felt her heart rate spike when she realized Snape had suggested Harry and Malfoy, a twisted smile on his face.

"This aught to be entertaining," Aaron said at her side, having returned from finding his wand. Ascella was mildly impressed he was back already; last she'd seen him he was more than halfway across the hall looking for it. As she said weak, uncontrolled versions of the disarming spell.

"Yeah, entertaining or bloody," Ascella replied. "One of the two."

Turned out it was a bit of both. The whole hall had a bit of a shock when Harry started hissing and spitting at the snake Malfoy had conjured after Lockhart had flung the snake into the air instead of vanishing it, causing it to land in front of Justin Finch-Fletchley. From what Ascella could see the snake backed off after Harry's hissing and spitting act, but Finch-Fletchley didn't seem to agree before yelling at Harry and angrily darting from the hall.

Then Ascella became aware of the muttered buzzing that was beginning in the hall and she knew it was time to get Harry out of there. She was glad to see Ron already tugging on Harry's robes and dragging him away.

"Oh get over yourselves," Ascella said disdainfully, defending Harry against the whispers she heard as she pushed her way through the crowd following Harry and the others. She met up with them in the Entrance Hall and walked briskly along with them to the empty Gryffindor common room, where Ron finally broke the news to a confused looking Harry about him being a Parselmouth.

Harry didn't understand what was so bad about that, figuring loads of people must be able to do it.

Ascella made a pained face and shook her head.

"No, Harry," she said gentler than she normally spoke. "Not many people can."

"Yeah," Ron added. "It's not a very common gift. Harry, this is bad."

"Why?" Harry angrily retorted. "Justin would be missing half his face right now if I hadn't told the snake off."

"I knew you were calling it off," Ascella said triumphantly. Ron explained though that to the rest of the school it had sounded and looked more like he was egging the snake on than calling it off. Harry slumped miserably even if he still didn't understand what was so bad about being a Parselmouth. So Ascella explained.

"It's bad Harry, because Salazar Slytherin was famous for being able to talk to snakes," she said bracingly.

Hermione nodded with her and added, "It's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent, Harry." Harry's mouth dropped open finally understanding.

Ron nodded grimly. "Yeah, everyone's going to think you're related to him now."

Harry protested he wasn't, that he couldn't be but even he had to stop once Hermione had explained he very well could be. Ascella put her head on his shoulder in comfort. She felt bad for him; she knew what it was like being judged for one's ancestors, her case specifically applying to her father.

The next morning Harry was in no better of a mood, and was determined to talk to Justin for Merlin only new what reason. If Ascella had been in his place she wouldn't have cared overmuch but as it was Harry wouldn't get his chance as a blizzard had blown through and canceled his last Herbology class of the term, where he'd planned to speak with Justin.

Ascella was livid with this at breakfast. "Honestly! How lucky can you get?" she asked poking a sausage with her fork and waving it about. "Why couldn't the storm have blown in a few days ago? I could have done with getting out of Herbology!"

"But then you wouldn't have gotten Zabini's hair," Harry pointed out, looking far too saddened by the news of his Herbology lesson being canceled, just because it meant he wouldn't get to speak with Justin.

"True," Ascella acquiesced. She'd been delighted to notice that Zabini must have found the missing bit of his hair and had it regrown because she could no longer notice it missing. She'd wanted to laugh when she'd noticed; only a boy as vain as Zabini would notice such a thing. "But still," Ascella continued to Harry, " _you_ should be enjoying the cancellation at the very least."

Ascella left Harry a few minutes later for her History of Magic lesson, after he promised her to at least try and enjoy his newly acquired free period. Ascella had honestly thought about skiving off History of Magic but she figured it wouldn't hurt to get some more money out of Morag as Christmas shopping was coming up and she had a lot of friends she wanted to get gifts for. She was even considering getting Zabini a gift card for a free haircut, should their plan with the Polyjuice Potion go over well; somehow she didn't think he'd see the joke.

Next in Transfiguration, Ascella was surprised to find all the students in the room on the fifth floor, but no Harry or Professor McGonagall. Ascella looked at Hermione for an explanation. Her friend had only shrugged and told her that the last she'd seen Harry he'd been headed out to try and find Justin so he could explain what happened. They found out later that he had indeed found Justin, but he hadn't been able to explain as Justin and Nearly Headless Nick had both been petrified.

"I told you to _enjoy_ your free period, not get caught at _another_ scene of the crime and get dragged off to Dumbledore's office," Ascella told Harry later at dinner that night. His only response had been to glare at her and tell her it hadn't exactly been his plan either. Ascella chose to let it go instead of continuing the discussion.

There was one thing they could all agree on though and that was that the holidays would be rather quiet as everyone and their mother scrambled to get seats booked on the Hogwarts Express so people could leave the castle over the holidays. Ron had put it the best when he'd commented that it would be only them, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle left over the break, sarcastically commenting on what a "jolly holiday" that would be. At least Percy, Fred, George and Ginny would also being staying as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to be visiting Ron's older brother Bill in Egypt and none of others wanted to be bothered with it.

The last few days of term were spent with the entire school treating Harry like he was some sort of leper who was about to sprout fangs or spit poison. Ascella had received a detention from McGonagall when she'd caught her being a little too _forceful_ with a third year who'd spoken a little too loudly about how Harry was surely the Heir of Slytherin.

At least Fred and George found the whole thing ludicrous, going out of their way to walk ahead of Harry in the corridors shouting out things like "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through..."

Ascella couldn't help but giggle every time George pretended to ward Harry off with a large clove of garlic whenever they met in the corridors or when Fred loudly announced who Harry was planning on attacking next. She was glad that it seemed to cheer Harry up as well.

And then finally the end of term arrived and silence descended on the castle. Well silence everywhere but in Gryffindor Tower, which the Weasleys and Ascella, Harry, and Ron had the run of to play Exploding snap as loudly as they wanted and to have epic (well epic in their minds) duel fights. George's girlfriend had gone home for the holidays as well, which made Fred happy though as he put it "I love Andy to death but it is good to have you all to myself! None of that annoying snogging to get in the way! Besides Christmas is for _family_."

Ascella for her part set up a permanent residence on her mattrice in Hermione's dorm for the holidays as the only way she could get into her tower over the holidays was with Hermione because, "I am _literally_ the only Ravenclaw left," and there wasn't a chance in hell she could get in on her own. She was still terrible at riddles. Luckily, Hermione was excellent at the riddles and so whenever Ascella was in need of more clean clothing she made a trip to Ravenclaw Tower with Hermione.

Christmas morning Ascella woke early with Hermione. She and Hermione both received the customary Weasley sweater which Ascella promptly put on, hers a pretty royal blue with a gold eagle on the front; it set off her golden blond hair beautifully. In addition to the Weasley sweater Ascella received a series of books on defense from Dora ("Oh it's great having a cousin in the Auror department when the school's being attacked by a blood-purist Heir of Slytherin, isn't it?" Ascella had said fondly on opening the present), Ted and Meda had given her the homemade Christmas Monkey bread, a Christmas morning tradition in the Tonks household, charmed to still be warm, that she had wanted as well as a heartwarming card detailing how much they were missing her. Ron had gotten her a book on the Chuddley Cannons (he seemed to still be convinced he could sway her over to his way of thinking about them; he couldn't, she was still a die-hard Tornadoes fan), Hermione an autographed book by one one of Ascella's favorite muggle authors (Ted had never shied from bringing home books for Ascella written by muggles as well as witches and wizards growing up), and Harry had gotten her a scrapbook partially filled with photos from their previous year together and the first term of second year. Ascella had even found a hilarious shot of Ron as he was about to be hit by an apple that they'd used as a Bludger over the summer in the Weasley's back yard. Ascella loved it all of it, and loved especially how their was room to add more photos for future adventures.

After opening presents Ascella joined Hermione in adding more lacewings to the Polyjuice Potion in Myrtle's toilet. Somehow they managed to be lucky enough to avoid Myrtle, who seemed to be on one of her hid-in-the-sewers benders.

"Looks like it's ready," Ascella said to Hermione as Hermione stirred in the last of the lacewing flies. Hermione nodded.

"Let's go see if the boys are up," she said when she'd finished. Ascella agreed readily.

The two of them walked in fully dressed, each carrying in their presents for the boys, only to see both boys still sound asleep the curtains of their four posters hanging open as though they'd fallen asleep talking.

Hermione was about to open her mouth and loudly tell them to wake up when Ascella looked at her and shook her head. She then proceeded to creep towards Harry and placed her face right next to his head before shouting, "WAKE UP!" in his ear. He shot up, alarmed, while Ascella leaned back and cackled at him. Harry glared at her once he realized what was going on.

She'd effectively woken Ron up as well who'd become embarrassed at Hermione being in the dorm, while Hermione shrugged him off and proceeded to open the curtains at the window between Harry and Ron's bunks. She wished Ron a Happy Christmas tossing him his present and told both boys about how she and Ascella had been up for over an hour already and that the Polyjuice Potion was ready.

Harry sat up at the news as Hermione sat down on Ron's bed shoving Scabbers out of the way, while Ascella sat comfortably on Harry's bed pulling her legs up under herself, as comfortable as if it was her own bed, which in many ways it was, seeing as she spent more nights there than she did in her own bed in Ravenclaw Tower.

She told Harry she adored his present, making him blush but she still made him take a photo with her and the present she got him so she could add it to her photo album. He loved her present (a Tornadoes jersey; Ron hadn't been pleased about it as he'd gotten Harry the same present he'd gotten Ascella; Ascella had only about fallen off Harry's bed laughing at Ron's sputtering, while Harry tried on the jersey amid Ron's protests).

The feast was uneventful if enjoyable, filled with all of Ascella's Christmas favorites; eggnog (the unalcoholic version for the students not the one Hagrid was consuming), roasted and spiced meats, and delicious pudding. The Great Hall looked beautiful and Dumbledore even led them all in a few of his favorite carols, while Hagrid became more and more tipsy to Ascella's great amusement. More amusing though was Percy's continued obliviousness to the fact that Fred had charmed his prefect badge so it read "Pinhead".

Afterwards, full and happy, Ascella and Hermione left Harry and Ron to apprehend their bits of Crabbe and Goyle and to hide away the real Crabbe and Goyle. The idea of knocking out and lugging Zabini into a closet didn't sound appealing to Ascella and she was glad he had decided to go home for the holidays.

Up in Myrtle's toilet, after Ascella had changed into some Slytherin robes that would fit Zabini and once the boys had arrived, faces flushed from what Ascella could only guess was from the effect it would require to move a knocked out Crabbe and Goyle, Hermione divided the potion into four equal parts. Ascella wrinkled her nose at hers; it did not look appetizing. Harry seemed to share her sentiment as they shared grossed out faces.

Next they added their respective hairs, the potion with Zabini's hair turning a iridescent gold, it was almost pretty, Ascella thought, and followed Harry's advice to go into separate stalls to drink it down, as he'd anticipated the increase in size that would occur when he and Ron changed into Crabbe and Goyle, causing them to not all be able to fit in the same stall.

"Cheers, mate," Ascella called to Harry, who returned the sentiment, before she downed the drink in one large gulp, her eyes watering at the pain of swallowing that much in one swallow.

The next few minutes were some of the strangest and most fascinating ones of Ascella's life to date, as her skin bubbled and darkened, her limbs lengthening and thickening slightly, her long blond hair seeming to shoot backwards into her head, Ascella glad she'd changed robes already as her body expanded into the Slytherin robes. When it was over, Ascella was standing a few inches taller, her head feeling eerily light, without the weight of her hair.

Then Goyle's voice - Harry's now - called out asking if they were okay.

"Yeah," came Ron's reply in Crabbe's voice.

"You mean other than the fact that I'm creeped out about looking, and sounding, like a pompous Slytherin prat?" Ascella said in Zabini's smooth voice. Harry laughed with Goyle's deep and stupid sounding guffaw.

Ascella then opened the door and stepping out, looked at herself in the mirror. It was rather frightening to see Zabini's gold eyes looking back at her, but she did have to concede that if this was the face she saw every day in the mirror she might be obsessed with how she looked too. But then again maybe she only appreciated his face because she wasn't him; Rowena knew she didn't care about the way she looked, though more than once people had told her how pretty she was.

Ascella turned to survey Harry and Ron. Crabbe and Goyle looked back at her.

"Weird," Ascella said.

"I know," Harry/Goyle said back. "At any rate, we should get going. Hermione?" he called to the still shut tight stall Hermione had gone into. Hermione told them to go on ahead with out them though. Shrugging to one another, they listened to her and headed out, giving each other advice on the way of how to move and behave.

In the dungeons, Ascella took the lead as she had a better sense of where the Slytherin common room entrance was but even she couldn't get them there exactly, so they all kept their eyes peeled for any other Slytherin students.

Unfortunately, they only found Percy. Then Ron, forgetting who he was, proceeded to question Percy as to why he was there.

Ascella was about to hit Ron to get him to stop acting like, well, like himself, when she caught sight of Malfoy strolling along down the corridor in front of them. His eyes fell on Ascella and they widened.

"Blaise!" Malfoy cried, a suspicious look on his face. "What are you doing here?"

Ascella shrugged, trying to capture Zabini's usual air of indifference. "Decided to come back early," she said in Zabini's deep voice, speaking as if if were obvious. Malfoy still looked suspicious so she motioned behind her to where Harry and Ron were standing trying to look stupid like Crabbe and Goyle. They were surprisingly good at it. "Found these two pigging out in the Great Hall," she said, as Malfoy's eyes alighted on them.

"Ah, there you are," Malfoy drawled. "Have you really been in the Great Hall this whole time? I've been looking for you two; I have something really funny to show you." He sent a casual, less superior look than the one he'd used on Crabbe and Goyle, at Ascella. "You're welcome to join as well Blaise." Ascella shrugged in genuine indifference; she'd only agreed to this adventure because she'd wanted to see the inside of the Slytherin common room figuring Harry and Ron would have better luck with the questioning as they were Crabbe and Goyle, the two who were closest with Malfoy, than she would as Zabini.

It was interesting though, Ascella couldn't help but think, the way Malfoy spoke and addressed Zabini. It made Ascella think that maybe there were actually some people that Malfoy didn't believe himself to be superior to.

Then, after a withering comment by Malfoy to Percy, the three of them following along behind Malfoy, Ascella trying at least to pretend she knew the way. They all had mild panic attacks when Malfoy questioned them about the password but luckily he remembered it and they all entered the Slytherin common room.

Ascella found herself unable to control her face as she looked around curious. The Slytherin common room was about as opposite of the Gryffindor or Ravenclaw ones as possible, with relatively low ceilings in comparison and darker furniture and windows that let in an eerily almost green glow. Wait, was that a fish that just went by, Ascella thought walking closer to the windows, away from the group and the ornate black mantle and fireplace.

"Where are you going?" Harry abruptly asked her. Ascella turned, a withering look on her face.

"What's it to you, _Goyle_ ," she said emphasizing the name to remind Harry that they weren't really close friends. The reminder served its purpose and even earned Ascella a snorted laugh out of Malfoy. Now that was weird; she'd never thought she'd see the day where she would be the cause of Malfoy's laughter. Malfoy quickly told Harry and Ron that he'd be right back and Ascella took the opportunity to tell them that she wanted a look around.

She discovered that all the windows in the Slytherin common room (and dormitories, she'd had to see where they slept too; she'd been unsurprised to see that they had emerald green fourposters with silver trim) all looked out into the Great Lake.

"How cool is that?" she raved to Harry later as they were leaving. She'd noticed the changing back to themselves sooner than they had and had waited for them around the corner from the entrance to the Slytherin common room. "Also, their bathrooms, and toilets, yeah, way nicer than the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor ones." And they were, filled with black marble and green tiles, with silver faucets and handles; all in all absolutely exquisite. Ascella had always had a thing about bath and toilet rooms; she couldn't explain it but she liked a classy well decorated bathroom. Harry had merely shaken his head at her and proceeded to tell her what, or rather what they hadn't, found out.

"Damn," Ascella swore when he'd finished. Then she remembered something. "What did Malfoy want to show you two anyway?" she asked changing the subject slightly. And they explained about the 50 galleon fine Mr. Weasley was being faced with for the flying car. "That's bollocks!" Ascella exclaimed. Harry nodded grimly with her but Ron still looked excited at the prospect of being able to write to his father about where the Malfoy's had hidden all of their really dangerous magical artifacts. Apparently Malfoy had let slip about how his father was hiding the items he didn't want found by the Ministry under their drawing room.

"Too bad we didn't find anything out about the Heir of Slytherin, though," Ascella said. The others nodded as they entered into the toilet on the third floor, their minds turning back to Hermione, assuming she must have changed back from being Millicent Bulstrode. Oh, how Ascella wished that had been the case; anything would have been better than what they found. Hermione was still changed and she didn't look anything like Bulstrode; she looked like she was part cat.

* * *

 **a/n Just wanted to thank all my reviewers! You are awesome.**

 **And to answer Sammy's thirdly: All I want to say here is don't worry. She won't be. :) And I think you will be happy with who she will be. :) It just won't be right away of course!**


	17. Chapter 17

**a/n AHHH! Finally I've been building to this chappie for awhile now! You will finally get to learn some more about Ascella's mom assuming you haven't read my other story. Exciting. I feel like it was time, especially as I hope most of you have seen that Ascella is a lot like Sirius thus far so I am excited to show how she actually does have some of what my version of Marlene is like, aside from the way she looks. In general this whole chappie is all about Ascella so I hope you all enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: nope not mine. All JKs**

 **P.S. Sorry for the like 2 month hiatus! :( all on me.**

* * *

 **January 1993**

It had turned out that the hair Bulstrode had left on Hermione's robes had actually been a cat hair, not one of Bulstrodes as Hermione had hoped. Ascella had grimaced accordingly, knowing it was bad to use the Polyjuice Potion with animal DNA, and had then accompanied her now furry friend to the Hospital Wing, but not before she'd said a few choice words to Myrtle for laughing at Hermione's predicament. They were so choice in fact that Ascella almost got drenched again when Myrtle jumped into her toilet and with much venom Ascella once again resolutely resolved to never set foot in that lavatory again; making the Polyjuice Potion, had after all, been the only exception to her previous resolution.

Now the new term had begun and Hermione was still in the Hospital Wing. Ascella visited with Harry and Ron as often as she was able to but the first Saturday of the term found her trudging down to Filch's office for her first detention of the term, instead of visiting the Hopistal Wing with her other friends. To say she was less than enthused would be an understatement. She could have been walking to her execution and she would've probably looked more enthused.

Filch met her at his door at precisely 7 o'clock. Ascella tried not to grimace as he directed her to follow him. To Ascella's dismay he led her to the trophy room on the third floor. She knew what awaited her in there; Ron had had detention cleaning in there the previous term. Sure enough, Filch told her to start cleaning all the trophies, the cases, the plaques, and even the framed photos of the teams and people who'd won the awards. All by hand. Without magic.

Ascella suppressed the desire to groan, as Filch handed her a small bag of rags and a bottle of polish and a spray bottle of cleaner. The only saving grace was that he left the room shortly after, but not before threatening her that he'd be back to check in periodically. Sighing, Ascella looked around her and choosing the far corner she got started.

As annoying as cleaning everything was without magic, Ascella found she couldn't help but enjoy the photos that went along with the awards; anywhere from grinning nerds having just won some spell contest or potion contest to the old Quidditch Cup winners. Ascella almost dropped her rag and spray bottle when she found one with a young Gryffindor man in it proudly holding up a Quidditch Cup, surrounded by the rest of his team, who looked almost exactly like an older version of Harry. She did a double take, wondering how the hell Harry'd gotten in this photo, before realizing that this must be _James_ , Harry's father. And sure enough Ascella noted that, not only was this man older than Harry, probably in his sixth or seventh year, but the eyes were a different color and the nose was maybe a little longer and there was no scar on his forehead. Other than those few differences though he was exactly the same; he had Harry's smile, Harry's rumbled jet black hair, and Harry's thin face. He was also rather attractive, Ascella couldn't help but think.

"Good on you Harry," she said aloud to herself, putting the photo back down. If Harry continued to look like his father, which Ascella had no reason to doubt, then he would have plenty of young ladies wanting to date him in the coming years. It was after she'd set the photo down and moved on to the Academic club awards in the case next to it that Ascella really did drop the rag and spray bottle, her mouth falling open into a small o.

She hesitantly stepped closer to the case, her fingertips brushing the cool glass, her eyes not quite believing what she was seeing. In the case for the Charms Club there was a photo, a photo of a smiling blond girl maybe 15 or 16, in a frame of gold. She was holding up an award to the camera, _Charm's Club MPV_ her arm around a younger Professor Flitwick, who smiled proudly next to her. In the photo they were looking at each other and laughing before looking out at the camera as though they'd just shared a joke.

And just as James had looked like an older, more attractive version of Harry, the beautiful girl in this photo looked just like an older Ascella. Her left cheek even ever so slightly dimpled just the same when she smiled as Ascella's did, though Ascella's was usually more of a smirk, making it look like she had a secret. The only difference in fact that Ascella could see was that the girl in the photos eyes were the most beautiful shade of sapphire blue Ascella had ever seen and seemed to sparkle like the sea. Ascella didn't need to read the placard to know that this girl was her mother, Marlene McKinnon.

Ascella didn't know how long she stared at the photo - it could have been five minutes or five hours - all she knew was that she never wanted to look away. She'd never seen a photo of her mother. Ted and Meda didn't have any and from what she knew of the story the McKinnon Manor had been destroyed the night her mother died, along with everything in it. In fact aside from that knowledge of how she'd died and that everyone had always told her how much she looked like her mother, a fact Ascella only now believed, she didn't know much of anything about the woman who'd given birth to her.

But she knew something now. Marlene had been in _Charms Club_ , of all things. And if the photo was any indication, she'd been pretty good at it too. Just like Ascella.

Ascella felt her heart warm as that realization washed over her. She _did_ have something in common with her mother, something other than looks. They both had a love, and a talent, for Charms. Ascella felt a watery smile alight on her face, her eyes swimming with moisture. She almost wanted to laugh. Who would have ever thought that a detention with Filch would have ever given her such a gift as this? Knowledge about her mother.

Two hours later Ascella crawled into Harry's bed, smelling of cleaning solution and silver polish and not caring one bit.

"Mmm, hullo Cells," Harry murmured rolling over and blinking awake, his green eyes coming in to focus on her.

She'd spent the time after her detention walking about the castle in a dream like state not coming to until she was outside the entrance to Gryffindor common room, her feet knowing before her heart that she needed to share this with her best friend and had taken her to him accordingly.

Now, she smiled sheepishly back at Harry, before biting her bottom lip and tugging on the overlong sleeves of a Gryffindor Quidditch sweater she'd stolen from Fred over the Christmas holidays.

Harry sat up higher at her reaction and grabbing his glasses asked her what was wrong.

So not looking at him Ascella replied, "I saw what my mother looked like for the first time." She felt Harry freeze before he reached out and took her hand in his.

"Oh Cella," he said, giving her hand a squeeze before waiting for her to continue in her own time. His support gave Ascella the courage to meet his concerned and empathetic eyes and tell him about how she'd stumbled upon the photo. She didn't tell him about seeing his father but then she suspected he'd already seen that photo in his scrapbook of photos given to him by Hagrid, but she did confess to him finally just how little she knew about her mother. She told him about not even knowing if she actually did look like her, only knowing that her personality was more like her father's, and she told him about how she'd worried she wasn't like her mother at all.

"But you are. You both like Charms," Harry said softly, when she'd finished getting all her worries out. Ascella smiled warmly at him and nodded.

"Yeah," she said, her gray eyes alight, "I am. Even if in the smallest way, at least I know I got something from her. You must think that's silly, though, to worry about that kind of thing." Harry was shaking his head in protestation before she'd even finished the sentence.

"Are you kidding me? Of course I don't think it's stupid," he said earnestly. "I think about those things almost everyday. I wonder what my parents would be like if they were alive, I wonder if they'd be proud of me, and most often I wonder if I'm anything like them at all. So no, I definitely don't think you are 'silly' for thinking about things like that."

Ascella grinned. Of course Harry would understand; he hadn't known his parents either. Ascella, though, didn't want to know _anything_ more about her father, the way she saw it she already knew too much. But it was this knowledge of her father that had made Ascella so desperate over the years to know _something_ of her mother, if only to assure herself that she wouldn't - couldn't - turn out like her murderous, Azkaban sentenced father. But she didn't tell Harry that; she didn't want him to know. It meant enough to her that he understood her desire to know her mother without the knowledge about her father.

"Thank you, Harry," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

Harry smiled and squeezed her hand once more, before letting it go. Then leaning back, putting his arm behind his head on the pillow, he said, "So, Charms Club, eh?" a twinkle in his eye.

Ascella hit his arm and laid down next to him. "Shut up," she said in reply as Harry laughed. She knew Harry was just teasing her about how she'd always made fun of any and all of the school clubs, especially the academic ones, and the people in said clubs, only to find out now that her mother was one of those people.

They were silent a moment more before Ascella got up the nerve to say, "Did I tell you how Flitwick told me to consider joining Charms Club, beginning of last term?"

She felt Harry nod his head next to her, before he replied, "Yeah, I think you mentioned it, followed by a 'no way in hell' comment."

"Would you think I was a hypocrite if I was now seriously considering it?" Harry allowed himself one small laugh, no doubt thinking, as she was, of her earlier resolve to never join a school club, especially an academic one, before he gave his honest opinion, a warm smile splitting his face.

"I wouldn't dream of it. In fact, I think you should join."

"Really?" Ascella asked her voice cracking a little on the word.

"Really. You love Charms. And now you know your Mum did too. And she obviously found something to enjoy in the club, so why not see if you do too? Let me tell a secret Ascella: it's okay to let yourself be passionate about something and to show others that passion. Besides, from what you've told me, it looks like she and Flitwick were close and if you join the club you'd be close to Flitwick..." Harry trailed off, letting this information sink in. It took her a moment before -

"Oh! Harry you're a genius! He would be able to tell me more about my mother. And you know, he might even be able to get me a copy of that photo! I am definitely joining Charms Club now!" she said throwing her arms around Harry.

Harry laughed and held her back. After that the two of them fell into easy conversation, where she told Harry about his father's photo, which Harry in turn told her he did indeed already have the photo, followed by Ascella raving about how weird it was that he looked so much like his dad, to which Harry rolled his eyes, even though Ascella knew he was secretly proud he looked like his dad. It did prompt Harry to remind her that apparently she looked just like her mother too, though he'd have to check out the photo before he believed it, which in turn made Ascella remember the photo with fondness.

"She was truly beautiful, Harry," she said her eyes glazing over in memory.

Harry snorted.

"What?" Ascella asked. Harry caught her eye, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"You must not look as much like her as people say then."

Ascella hit him.

Harry only cackled.

Shortly after that they finally fell asleep, Ascella with a smile on her face, and a bubble of warmth in her chest.

Monday morning, not even Aaron and Padma's teasing, could prevent her from marching up to Flitwicks' desk at the beginning of Charms and telling him that if the offer was still on the table, then she'd love to join the Charms Club. She'd been nervous but she'd hid her nerves well behind her usual mask of bravado. She needn't have worried though. Poor Professor Flitwick gave her such a big smile and was so excited that she swore his voice went up another octave (a feat she wouldn't have even thought possible) and she had to catch him before he'd accidentally toppled off the stack of books he used to teach on, before he settled on just nodding a lot and telling her he would be delighted to have her join. She was informed the next meeting would be taking place at the beginning of the next month, but she needn't worry about remembering when as he would add her to the owl mailing list he kept to inform members of the happenings in the club.

Ascella had then taken her books and bag and slipped into her seat next to Terry Boot, trying and failing to prevent a happy smile from alighting her features. Ascella settled in at her desk before turning to Boot, to see a matching smile of happiness on his face.

"What?" she asked, feeling herself blush a little. "Are you going to tease me too like the others?" Boot's smile widened but he shook his head no.

"No," he said. "I was just going to say how happy I am that you decided to join. You'll love it! We get to really learn a lot more about Charms and get a chance to work ahead more. We also hold little competitions to see who can perform the best spells or recognize and reverse the most spells already placed on objects. And with you being so good at Charms and all I'm sure you'll be great!" Boot said the last with a bit of a blush but Ascella only had the time to respond with a warm smile at his support and enthusiasm before Flitwick was drawing their attention to the front of the room for the start of the lesson on engorgement charms.

It was about this time that Ascella's happiness began to dim. But not because of the lesson or the teasing she was still getting from Aaron and Padma (Kevin and Terry defended her at least to their friends; they were both in Charms Club as well), no it was because of a nasty cramping feeling she was getting in her gut. Or was it just lower than her gut? She wasn't sure, all she knew for sure was that it hurt and made her feel like she wanted to be sick. Or curl up in a ball on her bed and never move again. One of the two. Maybe even both.

"Are you alright?" Terry asked her concerned while they practiced the engorgement charm on small stones. She'd just had a particularly painful cramp and hadn't been able to stop the slight grimace that wrinkled her forehead.

She nodded at him, not trusting herself to speak in a normal voice. It was clear Boot didn't believe her but he let it slide.

Perhaps he'd noted Ascella's 'I don't want to talk about it face' or perhaps he just knew she wouldn't tell him the real reason. At the bell singling the end of the lesson, Ascella made for the nearest toilet as fast as she could. Upon locking herself in one of the toilets she retched up her breakfast. Unfortunately, she didn't feel much better after.

It wasn't until after lunch when she went to the toilet to relieve herself that she figured out why. She'd started her period. Ascella had promptly sprinted to the Owlery, ignoring Harry's calls as she raced by him on his way to History of Magic.

Upon arrival she pulled a sheet of parchment from her bag, along with a quill and some ink. She had the ink uncorked, the quill dipped and poised over the parchment before she realized she didn't know who to write to. She supposed she could write to Meda but Meda was terrified of conversations that she didn't deem "appropriate to talk about in public"; her pure-blood upbringing had stuck in some ways. Besides, Dora had told her about how Meda had tried to explain the birds and the bees to her and Dora's advice to Ascella had been to not ask Meda. Apparently Meda'd clammed up and said "well" a lot, while she tried to think of what to say, before attempting to draw it out with terrible, disproportionate stick figures. No, Meda would not be the one to write to.

Ted would normally be the one Ascella went to for personal kinds of advice but somehow she didn't think this particular issue would go over well. It was moments like this when Ascella felt the pang and desire to have a mother; someone she could go to when things like this happened. Ascella had almost given up on writing a letter at all until she remembered; Dora! She could write to her cousin. She was surprised she hadn't thought of it sooner. Ascella soon had scribbled out a frantic letter to her cousin.

 _Dora!_

 _It's happened! My first crimson tidal monster has arrived! What do I do?! Please send word immediately! I don't know how long I can stand running to the bathroom every hour to magic away the damage!_

 _Ascella_

She spotted her elegant barn owl, Esmeralda, huddled up next to Harry's owl, Hedwig, on a rafter above her. Ezzy was pretending she hadn't seen Ascella and that she was sleeping but Ascella knew better so she poked her with a stick. Unfortunately, she rustled up the other owls around her own, including Hedwig, who gave her an indignant hoot before settling herself on a higher branch, but fortunately it worked to get Esmeralda down to her.

Ezzy liked to pretend she was too good for Ascella, but she loved Ascella really and prided herself on a job well done, so when Ascella tied the letter to her leg and told her to get it to Dora as soon as possible, she knew it would happen that way. And with an affectionate nip Ezzy was off to London.

She returned to her the following day at the end of breakfast. Ascella had been sitting with Harry but when she received the letter she promptly exclaimed and ran off without answering any of Harry's inquiries.

She waited until she was in an empty classroom on the fifth floor before she tore open the envelope and furiously read, her eyes zipping back and forth across the paper.

 _Dear Cells,_

 _It's okay love! You'll be alright, I promise everything is normal. But can I at least say: Welcome to Womanhood!_ (Ascella might have gagged, like she wanted to deal with _that_ , buying training bras over the last summer had been bad enough, if she wasn't so in need of what Dora was going to say _). I know you are probably trying not to gag right now, (_ Dora knew her too well _) but all I can really tell you is that you should go to Madam Pomfrey. She'll go through all you need to know, in a way that doesn't embarrass you both, like anything mum would say would do, and she'll give you the most amazing potion ever to help with any cramping and stomach discomfort. She can also provide you with any sanitary items you might need. In fact you are lucky this happened to you while at school. I had to go to mum over Christmas break my third year; it was a nightmare. Luckily I was still on it when I went back to school and I had a friend who suggested I go to Madam Pomfrey. She was honestly really great. But I know you are a Ravenclaw so maybe you'd prefer to read about it in a book. I asked Dad ("_ She did _not_ ask Ted," Ascella muttered _) and he said he'd send you up some books. (_ "She did it. Traitor," Ascella said her stomach knotting as her cheeks grew very hot. _) Should be along with the family owl soon! Before that though the scouring spells work well for any stains, as well as Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover._

 _But don't be too freaked out Cella! It's all normal! As much as it sucks, it is still normal. Let me know how it goes and write again soon. I always love hearing from you!_

 _Wotcher,_

 _Tonks (Dora)_

Ascella crumpled up the letter. 'Well that was helpful' she thought sarcastically, her cheeks still flaming hot. Somehow she couldn't imagine that Meda's response could have been more embarrassing than that one. And what was with the comment about _"I know you are a Ravenclaw so maybe you'd prefer to read about it"_ all about? No! Just because she was a Ravenclaw didn't mean she couldn't be social and ask for help about this. And so Ascella marched herself down to the Hospital Wing, the letter crumpled up in her hand and submitted herself to Madam Pomfrey's expert advice.

And it really had turned out to be not so bad. Pomfrey was incredibly helpful and it wasn't once embarrassing. In fact the way Madam Pomfrey brushed off her concerns and immediately sought to her needs and talked about it so casually made Ascella feel more embarrassed that she'd felt embarrassed at all. The best part though was when she gave Ascella a potion for cramping to be taken as needed, until they figured out what the correct level of dosage would be for her; Pomfrey had a feeling it would be higher than usual as it seemed Ascella's pain was higher than the average, especially as it had caused her to vomit.

Pomfrey also asked her if she needed any help with bras and such. Ascella had been worried she was going to tell her she needed new ones, but Madam Pomfrey waved off her concerns telling her that what she currently had (the training bras) were most likely just fine, but then explained how when a girls period starts, she should expect other parts of her body to change as well, and Pomfrey only wanted to make sure she knew what to get when the time came. Ascella had raised her eyebrows and might have declined before she thought of how awkward it had been to buy the training bras with Meda last summer and decided she'd rather hear it from Pomfrey, and so Pomfrey gave her the low down on how they should fit and everything.

All in all Ascella was glad to have gone and seen the head healer of Hogwarts, and not just because the meeting had taken all of Herbology and gotten her excused (a fact Aaron and Kevin were not happy about later, apparently Zabini had been more talkative and disdainful than usual, in fact he had been the whole term. Ascella suspected he'd figured out about the Polyjuice-Potion-impersonating-him-thing Ascella had done; he'd yet to actually confront her about it but he had made comments suggesting he suspected. Ascella had ignored such comments and deflected them with small secretive smiles instead, as if to say 'wouldn't you like to know').

And so it was that Ascella walked into her Transfiguration lesson five minutes late, waving her pass to McG as if "whatever" when in actuality Ascella was a little worried Minnie would make some sort of comment about her being late. Luckily McG read the note and gave her what Ascella could only describe as a sympathetic, if brief, smile before gesturing her to her seat. Harry, on the other hand wasn't as easily appeased.

"Ascella," he said, his eyebrows heavily furrowed as he looked at her. " What the hell as been going on with you?"

Ascella refused to meet his eye, her face flushing, as she pulled her book out and set it heavily on the desk and replied, "Nothing!"

Harry very clearly didn't believe her and looked about ready to respond but Ascella shot him a look and he shut up.

Padma cornered her later a knowing look in her eye.

"What?" Ascella asked, a little startled by her sudden appearance at the foot of her bed, where she had holed up in comfortable sleepwear and her favorite book, the potion Madam Pomfrey had given her on her side table.

"It's happened, hasn't it?" Padma said.

"Er - what's happened?" Ascella asked more than a little confused.

Padma shot a significant look at the potion. Ascella glanced at it. Her eyes widened in understanding. She looked back at Padma excited.

"You mean it's happened already to you?"

Padma grimaced before smiling back at her friend, nodding and crawling up onto the foot of Ascella's bed.

"Over Christmas break. I thought I was dying for sure," Padma said. "My mum gave me a potion similar to that over break." She pointed to the one on Ascella's side table. "I was still on it when we got back so I had to go get the same one from Pomfrey when we got back. Besides I also recognized the symptoms," she added smirking at Ascella.

Ascella fell back on her bed with a groan. "It's awful," she moaned.

"Yeah, it is," Padma agreed. "It sucks royally. But at least I'm not the only one anymore," she added brightly.

Ascella's only response was to glare and throw a pillow at her friend. Padma cackled and darted out of the way. The pillow slide off the side of the bed and Ascella was left in pain wondering why she'd stupidly thrown the pillow she'd charmed with a warming spell and had laid over her abdomen, a pillow she was in too much pain to go and get.

"You suck!" she called to Padma. The girl stuck her tongue out in response but did toss the pillow back at her.

"Don't say I never did anything for you!" she called primly over her shoulder, walking into the bathroom.

Ascella grinned and placing the pillow back on her abdomen, couldn't help but think that maybe misery really did like company.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: Owned by JK.**

 **a/n: Here's another update enjoy!**

* * *

 **February 1993**

The beginning of February came and with it came a welcome sight: Hermione fur-less, out of the Hospital Wing and back attending lessons with the rest of them.

"Oh, you didn't opt to keep the tail?" Ascella asked looking behind her friend, disappointed to find her tailless. Hermione's only response was to glare heartily at her. Ascella grinned.

"Only teasing, 'Mione," she said looping her arm into Hermione's elbow and walking to Astronomy Theo with her and Ron. It took Ascella a moment more to realize Harry wasn't with them exiting the Great Hall. She turned to look for him and spotted him in a place she'd never have thought to see him. He was up near the staff table, a few steps down, head bent as he spoke with Flitwick.

Ascella's brow furrowed, her eyes narrowing. Why would he be talking to her Head of House?

Ascella watched him until he smiled widely at Flitwick and hefting his bag higher on his shoulder, he hurried to catch up with the other three, acting as if there was nothing unusual about him stopping to talk to a Professor. Ascella wouldn't let him off that easily though.

She fixed him with a hard stare as they ascended the stairs to the fourth floor, before she asked, "Why were you talking to Flitwick?"

Harry didn't turn to look at her but Ascella couldn't miss the secret grin on his face. Then he shrugged and said, "No reason."

Ascella wanted to argue the point and push him but they had arrived at their lesson and Ascella was distracted by the sight of Aaron looking for all the world as though he'd been petrified. His face was pale, his eyes bloodshot as though he'd been crying instead of sleeping the night before.

Ascella didn't hesitate a moment more before slipping into the seat next to him and gently touching his arm. "Aaron?" she said. He turned to her, his blue eyes unseeing. Ascella felt her heart rate speed up in fear. "Aaron, what's wrong?" she said in her kindest voice, a voice she very rarely used, as she began to rub small circles on her friends arm.

He looked away from her, caught sight of her Gryffindor friends gathered around behind her and his eyes dropped to his lap. Ascella turned and looked significantly at them.

Ron was staring at the two of them, a look of curiosity on his face but Harry and Hermione got the message and managed to pull him away to give Ascella and Aaron some space. The rest of the class, thankfully, hadn't seemed to notice what was going on in the back of the circular planetarium classroom.

"It's okay," Ascella said turning back to Aaron. "You can tell me. Or I can go get Kevin-" but at the sound of Kevin's name, Aaron's lip began to tremble and Ascella stopped speaking abruptly. Her heart went cold, her hand stopping its rubbing momentarily. _No_ , she thought, _not Kevin_.

"When?" she asked. Aaron swallowed hard and answered still looking at his lap, his shaggy blond hair covering his eyes.

"Last night. He never came back to the dorm. I thought he was just still in the common room working on that essay for Snape." Ascella knew the essay; she hadn't been looking forward to writing it as it was about the uses of Flobberworm Mucus in potions and she still hadn't recovered from her detention with Snape in December when she'd had to sort the rotten ones from the good ones. "I didn't know he'd snuck out to the library," Aaron continued his voice raw. "They found him this morning. He was in the Potions section by the windows, a book about Flobberworms in his hand, facing the window looking horrified."

Ascella grabbed his hand and squeezed, her eyes burning with her own tears. She refused to let them fall but they were there making it harder to see the boy in front of her. Aaron's shoulders shook now as he tried to control his ragged breathing.

"I should've just let him copy the parts he needed from my essay," he said miserably. Ascella shook her head, a tear slipping out. He had no reason to blame himself.

"No Aaron, this isn't your fault," she beseeched him, whispering it into his ear as her arm went around his shoulders. "He chose to go to the library. He knew that if he still didn't have what he needed you, or I even, would've let him copy the next day at breakfast. There was nothing you could've done to stop it."

"I could've stayed up with him. Convinced him to not go. Or gone with him," Aaron argued.

"No," Ascella said her tone harsh, harsh because only that would cut through his guilt. "No, you couldn't have. Because then there'd be two of my friends lying in the Hospital Wing instead of one. And who knows, you could have both been killed instead."

Aaron looked up at her then. "But I'm not muggleborn."

"I'm not convinced the creature, whatever it is, would care. Only the person controlling it. From all I've read there isn't any kind of magic that only affects you based on your blood status. And who knows, maybe blood traitors, those friends with muggleborns, are considered just as despicable."

Wide-eyed, Aaron nodded at her. If he looked mildly horrified at Ascella's suspicions, he at least looked a little comforted about Kevin and was able to at the very least pretend to pay attention to the rest of Professor Sinistra's lesson on comets. Ascella knew he would still torture himself with guilt, but Ascella also knew she'd done what she could for now knowing the only thing that would truly pull him out of his funk would be to have Kevin back, safe and whole.

Harry caught Ascella's eye shortly after, a question in his green eyes.

'Kevin' Ascella mouthed back. Harry deflated, his eyes clouding over with unhappiness. 'I'm sorry,' he mouthed back. Ascella smiled tightly back, her eyes swimming again.

After the lesson Harry gave her a tight hug for comfort. Ascella returned it allowing herself to feel upset for a moment. Kevin was her friend too and it hurt that he had been attacked, but she would only allow herself to feel this with Harry, her friend who would never judge her and who understood her unconditionally. He alone did she fully trust, he alone was she _capable_ of fully trusting.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Harry asked so only she could hear, a moment later when she'd pulled back from his embrace. Ascella dried her eyes with a tissue she conjured with a flick of her wand and nodded.

"For the moment," she answered. "Besides I have to be," she added flicking her eyes to Aaron. Harry followed her gaze and saw what she saw.

Aaron had followed Ascella out of the classroom at her prodding and was now standing in the corridor a few feet removed from where Ascella and Harry stood, looking like a lost puppy. The rest of the students had already moved on, including Hermione and Ron. "He needs me."

Harry nodded in agreement. Then he turned back to Ascella. "And when you need me, I'll be there," he said earnestly. Ascella gave him a grateful smile, her heart rushing with warmth.

"I know," she said before walking away to walk Aaron to Charms, where she sent Terry Boot an apologetic smile for not sitting next to him, instead taking the seat Kevin usually occupied. Terry's eyes widened in understanding and didn't look at all upset at losing his Charms partner and fellow Charms Club member.

By lunch the whole school knew there had been another attack. Ascella did her best to shield Aaron from the brunt of the curiosity and scrutiny, but even so they still left early, the food on Aaron's plate untouched.

She spent the next few days constantly at Aaron's side. She sat by him in all their lessons, even lessons with Harry, visited Kevin in the Hospital Wing with him, and made sure he was eating at meals, all the while trying to pull him out of his depression with her usual dark humor and inane chatter. Nothing seemed to work though. Soon the other Ravenclaw second years were even attempting to help, trying to make jokes and engage him in card games in the common room or offering to help him with homework. The last always seemed to make him worse though, so Ascella told them to stop; clearly his guilt about not helping Kevin was still paramount in his mind.

History of Magic was by far the hardest though, for both of them. Neither mentioned the bet and how Kevin always slept, not after Ascella had made the joke, "Well I bet Kev will be asleep the whole lesson today! That is if he even bothers to show up," and Aaron had glared at her so hard she'd thought he was going to curse her. "Too soon?" she'd asked sheepish. "Sorry, won't happen again."

On Friday, they skipped History of Magic all together. Instead they spent the time in the Hospital Wing at Kevin's bedside. Aaron was sat in a chair his elbows on his knees his head in his hands staring at Kevin unseeing. Ascella sat curled up in a chair behind him watching him more than Kevin.

"You know," she broke the silence, her voice soft, "You weren't the only one who's friend was attacked."

Aaron scoffed. "What? You want all of us who've had friends attacked to start a club so we can all get together and bond over what we've lost."

Ascella glared hard at the back of his head.

"No," she snapped back. "I didn't mean the friends of the other people attacked. I mean you weren't - aren't - Kevin's only friend."

Aaron's bravado shrank away from his frame, his body sagging further into his hands. Ascella, seeing he might finally listen to her, continued, her voice a little softer than when she'd snapped but not quite as soft as before.

"And as a fellow friend of Kevin I can honestly say he wouldn't want you to be acting like this. He'd want you to be, well not happy exactly, but at least still capable of laughing and being as normal as you can be in his absence."

Aaron mumbled something into his hands.

"I'm sorry?" Ascella asked leaning closer.

He lifted his head and said, "What's normal without him? He's my best friend. I don't have anyone else that's as close to me as he is."

"No, you don't," Ascella agreed, thinking about how she'd feel if it was Harry instead of Kevin lying there; her whole life would be messed up, her whole schedule. "But you do have me still, and the other second year Ravenclaws. They don't bite. I know, I was shocked as well."

Her attempt at humor earned her a small smile out of Aaron.

"Look at this. Ascella Black, actually admitting to liking her fellow Ravenclaws," he teased with a touch of his old sarcasm.

"Tell anyone and I'll hex you into next year." Aaron chuckled softly shaking his head. He sobered up real quick though when he looked back at Kevin.

"He'll be back," Ascella said. "You haven't lost him forever, Aaron."

Aaron sighed deeply.

"I know. At least I do now," he said rising and turning to face Ascella. "Lunch?" he asked.

Ascella smiled and nodded. They'd been in the Hospital Wing so long that they'd missed Transfiguration as well. Luckily, McGonagall had turned a blind eye to their absence apparently as they learned when they ran into her outside the Hospital Wing. She took one look at them and softened, before she gave a clip nod and headed on her way.

Ascella and Aaron looked at each other eyes wide.

"I thought we were goners for sure," Aaron said finally.

"Me too," Ascella breathed. "Let's get out of here before she changes her mind."

Lunch was a much more pleasant affair than it had been all week. They sat next to Padma and Terry, the two of Ascella's fellow Ranvenclaw friends that had been trying the hardest to help Aaron. Padma in particular, had taken on a devoted air to helping Aaron, much to Ascella's surprise; she hadn't thought Padma had much cared for the Ravenclaw trouble maker.

Harry joined her a short while later, sitting on her other side. He had been her rock the past week, not questioning why she was no longer sitting by him in their shared lessons or why she hadn't been to Gryffindor Tower all week, instead adjusting his schedule and sitting with her and Aaron at most meals and spending an evening or two in the Ravenclaw common room doing his homework there and in general being the great supportive best friend he was.

This day found him smiling before looking questioning at her as Aaron ate on his own and even laughed at Padma's imitation of Ascella in Herbology. It was from when she'd thought she was going to be attacked by a Mandrake while they were feeding them a few weeks ago.

"It looked viscous to me. A very angry Mandrake. They have started to get all secretive, moody, and irrational you know," Ascella defended herself to Harry but she wasn't too put out, just glad to see Aaron acting more himself.

"While that sounds fascinating, I was actually referring to the fact that Morag is laughing," Harry whispered, grinning.

"Oh," Ascella said. "I think I got through to him finally."

"Good. I'm glad," Harry said. "Think you could come back to Gryffindor tonight? I've got something to show you."

Ascella nodded, curious despite herself. She wanted to know what it was now but Harry wouldn't have it, promising she'd see it later.

It turned out to be a blank diary. Ascella was less than impressed.

"A diary?" she said dryly. "You convinced me to come up here to show me a blank diary?" They were currently up in the solidarity of his dormitory.

"Well it has a name written in it," Harry defended. "And get this we found out he was around some 50 years ago. Won a medal for service to the school. We _also_ know," he added significantly, "from Malfoy that the Chamber was opened 50 years ago."

"So you think the two could be connected!" Ascella said feeling excitement rush over her. If they could figure out who had done it last time, maybe they could put a stop to these attacks now. Ascella flipped frantically through the rest of the pages, hoping one of them wouldn't be blank. Unfortunately they all were.

"And you've already tried the revealing spell _aparecium_? Or even a Revealer? Looks a bit like a bright red eraser," Ascella questioned, looking up at her friend.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, Hermione tried all that already. I was hoping maybe you knew of something else to try." Ascella shook her head dismayed.

"That's all I've got. It's possible he recorded his thoughts in the diary in a different way. Perhaps as a recording of some kind, but that's unlikely. Have you tried writing in it?"

"No," Harry almost snorted. "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know," Ascella said back at him, throwing the diary at him. "Maybe you thought, 'hey free diary. Now I can finally write all about how amazing my bestest friend Ascella is.'"

"Yeah," Harry scoffed, tucking the diary away. "Like that would ever happen."

Ascella threw a pillow at him. He ducked and it hit poor Neville Longbottom in the back of the head. Ascella pointed, straight faced, at the laughing Harry when Longbottom turned around, effectively laying the blame on Harry, much to Harry's chagrin.

After the epic pillow fight that ensued as a result, the two friends settled into a game of Wizards Chess, which no, Ascella was still not any good at.

The next week Ascella dragged an unwilling Harry out of bed. He'd had a late-running Quidditch practice the night before and hadn't slept well and therefore Ascella hadn't either. They rushed down to the Great Hall, slightly late where both promptly stopped dead in their tracks.

The walls of the Great Hall were covered in large pink flowers and heart shaped confetti drifted down from the ceiling.

Ascella was horrified. She'd never once seen so much pink in her life.

"I didn't somehow miss this happening last year on Valentine's Day, did I?" Ascella asked. "You know, maybe it scarred me so badly that I blocked it out and don't remember or something."

Harry shook his head.

"No, I don't think so. Not unless I too was scarred so badly. Come on, let's ask Ron and Hermione," Harry added and they made their way to the Gryffindor table, Ascella in a mild daze as she took in all the pink.

When they asked the other two what was going on Ron, a look of complete disgust on his face, pointed toward the staff table. Ascella and Harry turned to see Lockhart dressed in pink robes as vomit inducing as the walls and confetti. He began waving for silence.

"Oh no," Harry said looking at Lockhart like he was some disgusting sea creature. "This must have been what he meant by us all needing a 'morale' booster."

Slowly Ascella turned to look at Harry, her eyes wide and her mouth open ever so slightly. She was about to respond when Lockhart began speaking.

He told them he'd already received 46, 'Forty-six' Ascella had mouthed disgusted to Harry and Ron, while Hermione looked like she was completely in love, Valentine's Day cards and then proceeded to tell them that the fun wouldn't stop there.

"Oh please Merlin, why can't it?" Ascella muttered. Harry and Ron choked on their laughter.

That was when a dozen surly and garishly dressed dwarves in golden wings, and carrying harps, marched into the Great Hall and Lockhart announced they would be roving around the castle delivering Valentine's all day.

Ascella took it all in and suddenly she was completely torn between vomiting and laughter. Laughter won out.

"Did you see Snape's face?" she said at the end of Lockhart's announcement. "When Lockhart suggested students go to him and ask for a Love Potion?"

"Yes," Harry sniggered. "He looked as though he'd give poison to the first person that asked."

"Oi! Identical Weasley's!" Ascella called to the retreating backs of the twins as they all left the Great Hall for lessons. Ascella had Herbology (joy of joys) and the rest History of Magic. The twins turned as one.

"Yes Black?" they said in unison. Harry and the others slowed with her, Harry looking at her with anticipation as if he already knew what she planned to ask. Ron just looked confused and Hermione was pretending to search her bag while ignoring Ron's inquiry as to if she'd been one of the 46 who'd sent Lockhart a Valentine's Day card.

"Dare you to ask Snape for a love potion," Ascella said an evil glint in her eye. Of anyone that might be goaded into this, it would be the Weasley twins. Looking thoughtful, the twins crossed their arms.

"And what, pray tell," Fred began, "is in it for us?"

"A galleon," she said with a shrug. "Five, if he actually gives you a love potion." She paused thinking. "And five too if he ends up giving you poison instead," she added.

"You're on," Fred declared with a grin. George nodded looking equally up for it.

"Ascella!" Hermione exclaimed after the twins had left, on their way to Potions.

"What?" Ascella defended. "I want to see what Snape will do! And they are the only ones I could think of who have the right combination of nerve and lack of caring of the consequences to actually do it." Hermione looked like she wanted to say more but then Ron was speaking.

"Brilliant," he said, with a grin.

"Really," Harry added. "Anyway Cells, see you at lunch, yeah? I have something you might like."

Ascella perked up at that.

"Oh ho, and what could Mr. Potter have for his dear, dear friend on Valentine's Day? Intrigue abounds."

"Oh shut it," Harry laughed moving on up the stairs with Ron and Hermione. "See you later."

"Later!" she called, before turning and walking across the now rapidly emptying Entrance Hall and making for Herbology.

The rest of the day passed with a surprising amount of entertainment. All day long the dwarves kept barging into lessons to deliver Valentine's much to the annoyance of the teachers. Ascella had thought McG's lips were going to disappear permanently after the eighth interruption in her class. Granted six of those had been orchestrated by Ascella as she'd ordered Valentine's cards to be delivered to all her friends during that hour, just because. She was glad her funny card got a smile out of Aaron.

She was back to sitting with Harry in Transfiguration, Kevin's seat replaced by Padma and Terry Boot, but he'd turned and smiled at her after reading her card. All of the cards that she sent were, of course, ridiculous. Ascella was not a sap but she did enjoy a bit of fun and how often did you get the chance to send overly simple and hilariously cheesy Valentine's like 'You're Charming' (she'd sent that to Boot, him being her Charms friend and all that), or 'You're Ravenclawsome' for Padma, or her favorite yet 'Your smile is like expelliarmus: Disarming' that she'd gotten Harry because he'd gotten so good at that spell.

Ascella herself was surprised by just how many Valentine's she received. At lunch she was sat with Padma at the Ravenclaw table going through them all. She and Padma had exchanged for fun, and she'd sent a few others but she certainly hadn't been expecting the vast number that she'd received.

"Is that 32?" Ascella said incredulous, the cards spread out before her. "I don't even know who half of these people are!" She truly was completely puzzled.

Padma rolled her eyes at her. Padma herself had gotten more than her fair share of cards though not as many as Ascella, but that, at least, made sense to Ascella that Padma would get a lot of cards; people liked Padma, she was nice, unlike Ascella almost always.

"What?" Ascella asked.

"If you don't know I'm not going to tell you."

Ascella's brow wrinkled. What did that mean? She was about to ask when she caught sight of one of her cards.

"Oh look!" she said pulling the pale blue card from the pile. "Terry got me a card. 'You're wand-derful'. Aw, how sweet! He must like cheesy Valentine's too. And look he wrote a message on the inside. 'So glad you joined Charms Club! Anyway, hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day! -Terry'. Aw," she said again, touched. She began to scan the heads at her table looking for Boot to thank him when she caught sight of Padma's secretive grin.

"What?" she asked again, starting to get a bit annoyed at her friend.

"I didn't get a card from Terry," was her only reply, the knowing look still on her face.

"What are you implying?" Ascella asked.

"Again if you don't know why so many people sent you cards then I'm not going to tell you."

Ascella was about to open her mouth and demand for her friend to speak straight but she was interrupted by the arrival of Harry.

"Oh hullo," she greeted with a smile. Harry returned her greeting before settling in on the bench and shooting a bemused look between all the cards taking up space on the table and Ascella.

"I'm very popular apparently," she said by way of explanation. Harry snorted, disbelief all over his face. "Now what did you have for me?" Ascella asked practically bouncing in her seat on the bench.

"Calm down," Harry said with a grin and reaching for a sandwich to add to his plate. Ascella had already eaten and so was less patient than she normally might have been. She busied herself with collecting her cards up and storing them in her bag and then stared at Harry while he ate. He pretended to be ignoring her but she could see the tugging at his lips. He was now making her wait for his own amusement and Ascella was out of patience.

"Har-ry," she whined at him. "You're killing me."

He laughed and setting his pumpkin juice down reached into his bag. He pulled out a large leather bound scrap book. Ascella looked at it perplexed.

"It's for you," he said handing it to her. "Think of it as an extended Christmas present."

At his words Ascella's confusion left and she eagerly opened up the front cover. What she found made her heart stop. Stop and then warm. It was her mother. Countless photos of her mother from Charms Club and from old Hogwarts Times (the school newspaper) as well as articles and silly interviews, including one where she was interviewed as the most eligible bachlerette in a silly column the school newspaper still did. Ascella searched the photos with eager eyes and completely devoured any quotes she could find from her mother including the ones in the eligible bachlerette article. The one about what she looked for in a man was particularly interesting. ' _Er - this is a bit awkward but I'd say loyalty. I want someone who is devoted to those he cares about. Doesn't hurt if he's got a bit of a sense of humor too!_ ' How far she'd ended up from that with Ascella's father, mass-murderer Sirius Black, was almost laughable.

"Do you - " Harry cleared his throat. "Do you like it?"

She looked up at him, eyes filled with wonderment and a tad watery.

"Like it?" she said, before throwing her arm around him in a one armed hug. "No Harry, I more than like it. I love it! But how? Where did you get all of it?" she asked, pulling back.

"Flitwick," Harry grinned in response.

"That's why you were talking to him the other day!"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "They are just copies though. The originals had to stay where they were but Flitwick helped me make the copies and such. I thought about adding these to your Christmas present but then I thought maybe something separate from us would be better. Besides this way you can add photos of your dad and the rest of your family if you wanted to."

Ascella froze. _Her dad._ No, she would not be adding any of those. Meda had plenty of photos of Sirius Black, including the only one she'd ever looked at, one of him holding her up on her 2nd birthday as she giggled and attempted to blow out her two candles on her cake, and knew people who could get her more but as far as Ascella was concerned, father or not, there was no place for a murderer in any family scrap book of hers. But adding photos with Meda, Ted and Dora would be a welcome addition she thought.

"Thank you," she said again looking at Harry. She slipped the book into her bag to look at more later and hugged Harry again.

He smiled pleased and they spent the rest of lunch chatting easily.

It was after lunch as Ascella's Gryffindor friends made their way to Charms and she toward a required study hall when, by far, the most entertaining event of the day occurred.

Harry was accosted by one of the grislier looking dwarves, it calling out to him and elbowing his way through the crowd towards Harry.

Ascella watched as Harry flushed deeply and tried to make a run for it. She doubted he wanted to receive a Valentine in front of the first years, which included Ginny, who'd no doubt sent it but she also knew it was a futile effort to attempt escape. She was proved right a moment later when the dwarf was upon them.

When the dwarf said it had a musical message to deliver Ascella couldn't help but grin. Harry still fought and tried to convince the dwarf to give it to him elsewhere, which only resulted in the dwarf ripping Harry's bag open, causing an ink bottle to smash and spray ink all over his books and parchment. When Malfoy and Percy showed up Harry tried to make a break for it, not thinking straight enough to ask Ascella to fix his bag, but the dwarf tackled him and sat on his ankles.

Ascella was clutching her stomach now as she tried and failed to not laugh at the scene. Did she feel sort of bad for Harry? Yes. Was that going to stop her from finding the humor in this? No.

Then the dwarf started to sing.

' _His eyes are as green as a fresh picked toad, His hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he's really divine, The hero who conquered the Dark Lord.'_

And Ascella lost it completely. She was practically bent double, no noise coming out because she was laughing so hard. Harry glared at her, rising to his feet. Percy did his best to disperse the crowd and Ascella was swept away with her fellow Ravenclaws. Still she didn't miss Malfoy's goading. It quickly wiped any mirth from her as she struggled to turn around to get a good view of Malfoy to hex him.

Harry had it covered though and with one glance of sympathy for her friend she went on her way.

The twins found her and Harry at dinner later that night. After singing "His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad" rather loudly for the entertainment of those around they turned to Ascella and told her to cough up.

"Oh?" she said, one eyebrow raised, her long blond hair swept over one shoulder. "And where is the evidence?"

They handed her a small vial. She uncorked it, smelled it and grimaced.

"Ugh, definitely poison," she said. "Albeit not a deadly one. A quick trip to the Hospital Wing would stop the vomiting." She looked up then to see both twins holding their hands out and looking expectant. She laughed.

"Oh alright," she said and handed them five galleons. "What was his reaction anyway?"

Ron and Harry leaned in, eager for the response too.

"He looked like he wanted to murder us," said Fred.

"Face got so flushed that I thought we were goners for sure," George added.

"Gave us a weeks worth of detentions."

"But then he also handed us this which got us the galleons so all in all worth it!"

They all laughed. Later up in her dormitory, her blue curtains pulled shut, the scrap book open across her lap, Ascella couldn't help but think that the day hadn't been so bad after all. She wouldn't be advocating for a repeat performance for next year but it had had its entertaining moments. And it had given Ascella this book, and further insight into just who Marlene McKinnon was and for that she couldn't help but be happy. She fell asleep with a smile on her lips and warmth in her heart, which really was all anyone could ask for in such dark times.

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 **a/n Thanks for all the lovely reviews! Glad you are enjoying the story!**

 **note: I moved back Harry finding the diary a couple weeks because of the Kevin attack. I figured in reality it was likely more students than just those somehow in Harry's circle would have been attacked.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: owned by JK**

 **a/n: Sorry for confusion! But I added to the beginning of this chapter and so moved the end to a new chapter... Sorry if you'd already read it and had to go back.**

* * *

 **March - April 1993**

The events of Valentine's Day soon faded into the past, especially in light of what Harry had experienced in Tom Riddle's diary later that very night. He'd told Ron, Hermione, and Ascella what he'd witnessed and learned from the memory of Tom Riddle. Ascella had been mildly horrified that Harry had been sucked into the diary and the memory.

"Suppose you got suck there?" she'd mused aloud. "Magic like that is dangerous, you don't want to mess with it." But even that news hadn't been as shocking as what Harry had actually learned there.

"What? _Hagrid_? The Heir of Slytherin?" Ascella had commented unbelieving.

"I know," Harry said miserably. "But we did know that Hagrid had been expelled."

"Well yeah, but _Heir_ of _Slytherin_? This is Hagrid we are talking about. Besides isn't it a prerequisite for the Heir of Slytherin to hate muggleborns? We know that's not true."

"Unless it is the monster that specifically targets muggleborns," Hermione had said. "You know Hagrid, maybe he was trying to tame the creature or something and it got out of his control."

Ascella made a face. That did sound like Hagrid. Still she didn't believe that there was such a creature. No creature would care about that, only if it was controlled by someone that did. But she hadn't voiced this opinion since Hermione had then asked if they should ask Hagrid about it. They'd then all decided not to unless there was another attack.

Despite the recent attack on Kevin, there hadn't been another and as they entered into March people were beginning to think that the attacks might have finally come to an end, the attacker having decided to retire, hopefully for good this time.

It was also in March that Ascella had been horrified to learn that some of the Mandrakes had thrown a loud and raucous party in Greenhouse Three. It was a fact that caused mixed reactions. The twins had jokingly complained that it wasn't nice for them to have not invited them, while Sprout was _happy_ of all things. Ascella was just glad she hadn't been anywhere near it because a Mandrake party did _not_ sound like a good time. She'd pass out for sure or knowing her luck, the Mandrake's would have matured enough that their cry would now actually kill her.

Sprout did explain her happiness to Harry though and he relayed the message to Ascella as she'd been shuddering at the thought of a Mandrake party. Apparently it meant that they were almost fully mature and that at maturity they would then be able to revive the petrified people in the Hospital Wing.

And so Ascella supposed that as long as she was far, far, _far_ from the little brutes and their parties that she could be happy too; Merlin knew they were still all missing their friends in the Hospital Wing.

Aaron, while not nearly as happy and comfortable as he had been when Kevin was with him, was at least coping well. He wasn't ignoring his lessons and homework and he was even smiling more. It turned out that he and Padma actually got on quite well, a fact that both surprised Ascella and annoyed Terry. He'd confided in Ascella in her first Charms Club meeting that he missed his best friend. He understood and he knew he had Micheal Corner and Anthony Goldstein too, but and Ascella had agreed, Padma had never seemed to overmuch like Aaron before the attack on Kevin. Ascella couldn't help but wonder if their new found friendship would continue after Kevin was revived. She hoped for Padma's sake it would; she seemed a bit more attached than Aaron, Aaron still preferring to stick closer to Ascella, though he did hang with Padma and Terry in the common room when she was off with Harry.

Then in April, over the Easter holidays, came something new to think about; picking courses for third year. Hermione and the rest of the Ravenclaws took this matter very seriously, much to Harry, Ron, and Ascella's endless annoyance.

"The subjects we choose now could affect our entire future," Hermione stated primly one evening in the Gryfindor common room as the rest poured over the new subjects list.

"Oh give it a rest Hermione," Ascella groaned, falling dramatically back onto the plush couch she and Harry were sharing. She'd had enough of the talk about new courses in the Ravenclaw common room, thank you very much. In truth, she'd actually been quite contemplative about her choices as well, but like hell she'd admit it. She was lucky that Dora had already gone through school and so she already had a sense of what classes she'd want to take, not that they were the same as what Dora had taken.

"I just want to give up Potions," Harry said from next to her, eyes intent on the parchment in front of him.

"And me, Herbology," Ascella voiced.

Ron gloomily informed them that they couldn't. "We keep all the old subjects," he explained. "Otherwise I'd've ditched Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Hermione was so shocked at this admission that Ascella almost laughed.

"That's very important!" Hermione said.

"Not with Lockhart," said Ascella, while Ron and Harry nodded in agreement.

Ascella did, however, find it immensely amusing to watch poor Neville Longbottom pour over the many letters he'd received from all the witches and wizards in his vast family, all giving him very different advice on the best subjects to choose. He sat, tongue sticking out, hair almost as messy as Harry's from where he'd run his hands through it countless times, trying to find the easiest subjects that would also appease his relatives.

Dean Thomas's approach had been almost as funny. He'd grown up with muggles so he ended up just closing his eyes and jabbing his wand at the list and choosing those subjects that it landed on.

"Hope he gets Muggle Studies," Ascella said under her breath with a grin to Harry. Harry snorted to cover his laughter.

Ascella had completely ignored the advice Ron's older brother Percy tried to give both Harry and Ron, instead making faces at Harry from behind Percy's back. Harry had listened as well as he could and ended up choosing the same subjects as Ron, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Hermione, for some asinine reason signed up for them all, _including_ Muggle Studies, despite her being a _muggle_ born. Ascella merely shook her head at her friend, figuring McGonagall would sort her out and narrow her down to the _'at least two but no more than three'_ sign up instructions at the top of the parchment. Instead she'd turned to Harry and bent her head over his shoulder, her thick braid falling over her shoulder to look at what he'd signed up for.

"Terrible idea," Ascella tutted, shaking her head.

Harry looked up at her, green eyes wide behind his round glasses.

"Why? What did you choose?" he asked.

"Divination, Ancient Runes and Arithmacy," she said. Harry made a bemused face at her.

" _Three_ Cella? And aren't the last two known to be quite hard?"

Ascella shrugged.

"I need to be challenged."

Harry smiled. "Maybe you are a true Ravenclaw after all."

She shoved him off the couch in response. He merely cackled at her.

When she finally let him back up on the couch next to her, he turned to look at her a thoughtful look on his face. Ascella almost thought she had something on her face but she managed to resist the urge she felt to wipe at her face.

"What?" she asked instead.

"How are you so good at school?" he asked.

She snorted. _That_ was what he wanted to know.

"I'm not. 'Mione is a way better student than me," she said.

"Yeah, she's a better student sure, but she works at it. For you it seems effortless." Ascella made a face.

"It's not effortless for me. I just already know all this stuff," she said like it was no big deal, which to her it wasn't. Harry looked very much like he was trying to not roll his eyes at what had probably come out sounding arrogant. No, she took that back, it had definitely come out sounding arrogant; she'd never been one for humility.

"See, that's what I mean though. _How_ do you already know all this? And don't tell me it's because you were raised in a wizarding family because Ron was too and he doesn't know all of this stuff."

"Yeah but he didn't spend his childhood doing what I did. Besides I've gotten no less than five burns and two bites from, and I quote Sprout on this one, 'harmless' plants this term alone in Herbology. Quite frankly it's a bloody miracle I haven't been knocked out by the Mandrakes yet. Or killed," Ascella tried to add to remind Harry she wasn't really all that great at every subject.

Harry instead rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but that's _one_ subject. And quite frankly I'd still kill to have the marks you do in your worst subject. My Potions and History of Magic scores are always hit or miss," he said.

"Well Potions is only because Snape hates you," Ascella pointed out.

"Still. Look are you going to answer the question or not?"

Ascella grew quiet. She didn't understand why this mattered to Harry so much. Usually he found her immense knowledge base beneficial as it meant less trips to the library for him, less searching through their school books. She often spent time with him while he did homework answering any questions he had, while she sat curled up with her latest read from the library. Now more often than not it was some advanced Charms books Flitwick had signed for her to check out of the restricted section.

Sometimes, she was even doing the homework too, that is when she could be bothered. The biggest reason she wasn't anywhere near Hermione overall in their class rankings was because she was very hit or miss with the actual _doing_ and turning in of her homework, usually more often a miss. Even on the hits she was as likely to turn it in half finished only doing the problems or addressing the parts of questions she found fun or entertaining; she couldn't fathom what the purpose of multiple transfiguration calculations for mass transfers were when they had to do five or more from each section of the book, when each in a section was more of the same. No, in her mind it was better to do one from each section, better and faster, so she left the rest blank.

More than one of the professors had accused her of cheating on exams and quizzes when she still got near perfect scores, for some reason McG wasn't one of them, but Snape was. The slimy git had given her more than a few detentions for it too. The only exams and quizzes she wasn't getting perfect scores on this year were Defense Against the Dark Arts because Lockhart was a moron and she refused to read his books. Oh and Herbology, but she got by well enough, but only because Padma insisted they study together and the girl had an scarily accurate knack for knowing just the precise information that they were most likely to be tested on and so they focused on only that information. Seriously though, the girl was a lifesaver; Ascella's Herbology marks would no doubt be much worse without her friend's help.

No, the only homework Ascella actively did was Flitwick's but that was mostly because she loved both Charms and her Head of House. It didn't hurt either that Flitwick always set her with extra prompts and challenge problems in an effort to challenge his best student.

"Come on, just what was it that you did if you didn't do what Ron did growing up?" Harry prompted, not letting up with the line of questioning that Ascella wanted him to stop with. _What did it matter really? It just was_. Ascella sighed though instead, seeing her friend wouldn't relent and so she told him.

"Growing up in a wizarding family isn't as entertaining as you would think. Ted and Dora, while two of the most loving people I have ever met with each other as well as Dora and I, kept mostly to themselves outside of the immediate family. That in combination with Dora being eight years older than me, made it so that there really weren't that many children to play with, especially when she went away to school, or anyone really. I hung out with adults almost exclusively. Adults and myself.

"So, for entertainment, I read. Anything and everything. Ted works at the wizarding library in Diagon Alley and he brought home any and all kinds of different books, in addition to the extensive collection already at the house.

"I also experimented. Meda, in addition to her magical herbs, spices, and other magical plants business, likes to brew experimental potions and research new spells to help with housework or just for fun. The fun ones were usually to entertain Dora and I.

"In addition to that Meda was a stickler about our education. She was raised in a strict pureblood family and while she didn't force us to practice penmanship or learn ballroom dancing she was still determined we would go to Hogwarts well educated. Even for Dora school wasn't especially difficult and she's training to be an auror now, which only the most qualified and best students get into and succeed at after school. And she'll be a shoe in as long as she doesn't trip. Dora is extremely clumsy. She once knocked the Christmas tree over and it was held up with magic.

"Anyway, I guess why it's all so effortless and why I know so many things about," Ascella squinted at the top of the essay Harry had been working on, "'Uses of Bicorn Horn in Sleeping Potions' as an example is simply a combination of the fact that I've already experimented with it in potions and read all about it already."

Harry looked almost convinced.

"But that still doesn't explain how you remember all of it. I could read all the books in the world and only remember a little of what I'd read. And you were still young learning all that. Young and wandless."

Ascella sighed again and burrowed her shoulders and back deeper into the couch behind her. She crossed her arms.

"Why does it matter?" she snapped at her friend, refusing to look directly at him.

She felt Harry shift away from her on the couch.

"Sorry," he said, the hurt evident in his voice. Ascella uncrossed her arms.

"Look I just don't like talking about it. But - " sighing, she finally turned to look at him. "I'll tell you. When I was little, no more than 3 or 4 Ted found me reading one of Meda's old school books. Ted thought I was just pretending - Meda had only begun teaching me to read a few months prior - until dinner that night, when I asked why you had to swish and flick your wand for the Wingardium Leviosa spell. Apparently Meda broke a plate at the question. Ted had told her about the book but neither had thought I was actually able to read it. And if I was, then they couldn't even begin to imagine I would be able to comprehend and remember it. Meda was the first to recognize what was going on having seen it in my father when he was a child.

"It's what's called a near perfect memory, if I read it, see it, experiment with it, I remember it. It's a familial trait. I'm told it was what allowed my father to breeze through all his lessons in school. - And its also one of the few things I actually know about my father. To everyone on the outside everything seemed to come easy to him too."

It was one of the few things she'd bothered to even ask about her father actually. She'd wanted to know what it meant, what the implications of near perfect memory were.

"My brain is like a sponge, knowledge like water, I absorb it right up. And as for being wandless, Dora wasn't actually the best at keeping track of her wand on breaks from school, or more accurately, I got good at filching it. I got her into more trouble with Meda than even she knows. Meda thought Dora was just being careless, when actually I'd stolen it. It was worth it even when they finally caught me. I was grounded for like a month, which was actually pretty funny considering I didn't really leave the house all that much anyway."

"Perfect memory? Really?" Harry said eyes wide, still stuck on that bit of knowledge. "That's amazing!"

Ascella laughed.

"Yeah, it's pretty nice. But it's why everything is easy," she said.

"So that's why you don't need to study!"

"Eh, I still need to study, review stuff mostly but it just doesn't take me as long."

"Yeah but like, you don't have to put in as much effort. That's great! Wish I could do that."

"Hey, I put in the effort. I just did it younger." Harry gave her a look like he didn't believe her.

"Whatever," she said, returning to her book. He didn't need to understand. She was used to people not getting it, only her fellow Ravenclaws really ever got it, in fact she was convinced Susan Redding of the fifth year was even smarter than her. It was her O.W.L year and she was hardly ever seen actually revising, while the rest were swamped with work, and still everyone knew Susan would still get all O's. Even Ascella couldn't manage that.

The rest of April passed uneventfully and they were soon into May. No new attacks had happened and the weather was turning warm and the Mandrakes getting older. Everyone was beginning to think the Chamber business was all behind them. Little did they know that it was about to get a whole lot worse.

* * *

 **a/n so I hope you liked the addition to the end of the chapter! I'd been meaning to explain in combination why I'd always thought Sirius was so good at school and why it came so effortlessly for him as well as why it was that Ascella would probably have inherited this trait! Also excited for last 2nd year chapter (ch 21 to be out by end of week) so we can see other habits Ascella unknowingly inherited from her father some not nearly as nice as this one...**


	20. Chapter 20

**diclaimer: jo owns it all, genius that she is**

 **a/n Hi... so this isn't actually the new chapter... I decided to break up the most recent one and add some stuff to chapter 19 that I've wanted to explain about Ascella so if you want the new material it is there. Sorry! Will post next chapter soon.**

* * *

 **May 1993**

When they entered May though their hopes were still high. Everyone's thoughts turned to other matters, namely the ending of the Quidditch season. Harry was busy with practices every evening beginning right after dinner. They were only playing Hufflepuff but Wood was relentless. As such the only way Ascella saw much of Harry was at meals and at night in the Gryffindor common room while he worked on the homework Ascella was either blowing off, had already done, or was yet to get around to, while she read other advanced Charms books and tried to figure out the spells, her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth. She'd very nearly set Seamus Finnigan's hair on fire when she'd been being a little to free with her wand movements.

Ascella was now walking down to grab a quick breakfast the morning of the Quidditch match, she'd spent a rare Friday night in Ravenclaw Tower and had slept too late for a normal sit down breaky, when she quite literally ran into Harry.

"Ooff!" Ascella grunted, reeling back, the breath taken from her at the impact. "Watch wher - oh Harry!" she started, a nasty sneer on her face before spotting her friend, dressed in his Quidditch robes, broom in hand, green eyes flashing distractedly at her.

"Oh hello Cella!" Harry rushed the words out.

"Running late?" she asked with a grin as she joined her friend in his hurried pace down through the castle.

"Yes," he said. "Got a bit distracted down after breakfast."

"Oh? With what?"

"I heard the voice again."

Ascella stopped in her tracks.

"Wha - what? Not the - " Ascella lowered her voice, "not the voice from before the attacks?" Harry nodded grimly. Ascella swore.

"But that means -" Ascella mused, rejoining Harry as they walked through the front doors and out onto the lawn with the rest of the crowd, any thought of grabbing some toast gone from Ascella's mind.

"Yeah," Harry said. "It's back. And it really wants to kill this time." Ascella swore again. First Harry's room gets sacked and the diary goes missing and now this. "And what's even more strange is that Hermione had some sort of brain storm after I told her and Ron."

"Really? What did she say?"

"That she'd understood something finally and that she had to go to the library. Then she ran off to, I can only assume, the library."

Ascella might have rolled her eyes if the topic hadn't been so serious. Hermione would go to the library before explaining anything.

Instead she said," Strange. 'Suppose I should go find her?"

"Nah," said Harry. "You know Hermione."

"True enough. Well good luck!" Ascella said at the gates to the Quidditch Pitch, giving Harry a swift, tight hug. "Give 'em hell!" she called before separating and heading to find Ron in the Gryffindor section.

She felt like she'd just settled in when she caught sight of McGonagall marching across the field, an enormous purple magic megaphone in her hands.

"This can't be good," Ascella had time to mumble to Ron before McG was rising the megaphone to her lips and announcing that the game had been canceled and that everyone was to return to their House common rooms to await further instructions.

"Come on," Ron said tugging Ascella down to where Harry was being led away by McGonagall, amidst the groans from the students around them.

Upon reaching their friend they were surprised to be beckoned along with McGonagall.

"Yes, I suppose you two'd better come along too," she said before leading them at a brisk pace back up to the castle.

She led them to the Hopistal Wing.

"This might be a bit of a shock," McGonagall said with surprising gentleness. Ascella exchanged one, wide-eyed look with Harry, her pulse spiking with nerves, before she turned to look behind McGonagall.

She let out an audible gasp, her hand going to cover her mouth.

"Hermione!" Ron gasped. Hermione indeed. The Gryffindor lay on a bed next to the other girl who'd been attacked, a fifth- year Ravenclaw with curly hair, her eyes staring and glassy.

 _Not Hermione_ , Ascella thought shaking her head.

"She was holding this when they were found," McGonagall cut through Ascella's horror, holding up a small hand mirror, the same gilded silver one that Ascella had gifted her friend with for Christmas. "I don't suppose any of you know what it means?" she asked looking at the three of them. They all shook their heads. Ascella didn't know why Hermione would have had that. _Why did she have to run off alone to the library,_ she thought. She should have just gone to the match like everyone else.

"Well in either case, I will escort you back to Gryffindor Tower. I need to talk to the rest there," McGonagall sighed. "Black, I can take you back to Ravenclaw after."

In the Gryffindor common room, McGonagall explained that everyone was to be in their own common rooms by 6pm each night, that they would be accompanied everywhere by a teacher, including to the toilets and in between lessons. She finished by announcing that unless the culprit was caught it was likely that the school would have to close.

Ascella looked at Harry then. "We need to talk to Hagrid," she whispered to him as McGonagall rolled up the scroll she'd been reading from and beckoned her over so she could take her back to Ravenclaw Tower. Harry nodded.

"Tonight," he whispered. "We'll meet you outside Ravenclaw Tower with the cloak." Ascella nodded and moved off to walk with McGonagall back to Ravenclaw Tower.

Later that night, Ascella heard scrambling on the other side of the door to her common room. She heard the bloody knocker give it's latest riddle. Of course it was one she actually knew the answer to, having heard it last year. Bird probably knew she was listening on the other side. Ascella still was no good at answering the riddles, but she had memorized the answers to any riddle the knocker had ever given her figuring it was bound to run out of new ones eventually. She'd even heard it reuse some riddles that she knew for other people like it was now and had heard from others that they'd had the same riddle twice more than once, but she never had. If she didn't know any better she'd say the stupid bird knocker made sure to always give her new ones. Even the one that it had given McG the previous afternoon hadn't been taxing, despite no doubt knowing that McGonagall was more than capable of answering a hard riddle.

Instead of waiting for her friends to respond to the riddle, and no doubt get it wrong, Ascella threw open the door.

"Yeah, yeah, it's a bloody Portkey," Ascella said to the knocker. "They didn't really want in anyway." And then turning to where she'd heard a choked laugh she said, voice hushed, "Right, let's go." Harry threw the cloak over her and the three of them made their way down to Hagrid's cabin.

It was difficult getting through the castle as the teachers, ghosts, and prefects were out in force, patrolling the castle in pairs. Finally, they made in out onto the grounds and were able to rush across the lawn to the lights of Hagrid's cabin.

At Hagrid's front door they threw off the clock and pounded on the door. Seconds after they knocked the door was flung open and they were met with Hagrid wielding a crossbow aimed at their faces. Ascella took a startled step backwards, very nearly falling off the top step. The only reason she didn't was because Ron had the quick reflexes to grab the front of her robes.

"Oh," said Hagrid, realizing who it was and lowering the crossbow. "What're you three doin' here?"

"Never mind that," Ascella said as they all stepped inside. "What's with the crossbow?"

"Oh," he muttered. "That - uh - that's nothing - bin expectin' - doesn't matter - I'll make tea."

Ascella sat with the others at the table, Fang bounding up into her lap and placing a wet slobbery kiss on her cheek. Ascella rustled his head with her hand in response, she'd always got on well with dogs, but most of her attention was drawn to Hagrid. The big man was clearly agitated. He even smashed the teapot with a nervous twitch of one of his massive hands. Ascella made to help him then but he waved her off and filled three cups with boiling water, no tea bags, and had set a large slab of fruitcake on the table when there was a loud knock on the door.

Ascella, Ron and Harry exchanged wide eyed looks before Ascella threw the cloak over them and they retreated into a corner of the room. Hagrid checked that they were hidden before grabbing his crossbow and yanking open the door.

It was Dumbledore. He entered looking serious and Ascella felt a sense of foreboding cloud the room. He was then followed by a most ridiculously dressed man. He had gray hair and was wearing a pinstriped suit, a scarlet tie, a long black cloak, pointed purple boots, and tucked under his arm was a lime green bowler hat. Ascella might have laughed if she wasn't so horrified by the ensemble.

"That's Dad's boss!" Ron breathed. "Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic!"

Harry and Ascella elbowed him, hard, to make him shut up.

They were then, painfully, forced to watch as the Minister announced, nervous looking and sweating, that this Chamber business had gone on long enough and that something must be done. The bad feeling Ascella had only grew as the conversation drew on. She was glad at least that Dumbledore was defending her large friend but even so she could see that Dumbledore's hands were tied.

Then Hagrid's face paled at hearing he'd be taken somewhere, "just for a little while."

"Not Azkaban," he all but croaked out. It was Ascella's turn for her face to go pale. She felt herself shrink further under the cloak and take a step back, accidentally stepping on Harry's foot. He glanced at her concerned but she just shook her head.

Now wasn't the time to explain Azkaban nor her reaction to the word. But they couldn't take Hagrid there. Surely not. Azkaban was for real criminals. Murderers and torturers, the worst of Wizarding society. It was a place for people like her father, not kind souls like Hagrid.

It then that there was another knock at the door. Dumbledore answered it. This time Harry gave an audible gasp. Ascella and Ron elbowed him in the ribs, though Ascella at least couldn't fault Harry's reaction. At the door was Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father. Clearly sneering was a familial trait. _This just keeps getting better and better_ , Ascella thought, heart in her throat. Whatever the elder Malfoy was here for couldn't be a good thing.

Sure enough, it wasn't. He soon announced, more like gloated, that Dumbledore was to be removed as Headmaster. He even produced an Order of Suspension with all twelve school governor's signatures on it. It was Ascella's turn for two elbows to the ribs as she'd cursed violently under her breath when Malfoy senior produced the order, calling Malfoy senior the dirtiest thing she could think of.

Ascella wanted to cheer Hagrid on as he defended Dumbledore stating what they were all thinking: that they couldn't take Dumbledore away, that there would be a killing next. Dumbledore cut him off and graciously accepted his fate. Ascella wanted to scream at him that he was being a right twat waffle but she held her tongue. But then Dumbledore silenced all of them as he spoke slowly and very clearly "I may be gone but you will find that I will only _truly_ have left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

 _Subtle, Dumbledore_ , Ascella thought, sure that Dumbledore somehow knew she, Harry and Ron were hidden in the room. The greatest wizard in the world would of course have better means than just sight to know what was in a room, no doubt having either done a revealing spell or something else of the like.

Malfoy senior commented on Dumbledore's speech, joy oozing through his words before he too exited the room. Hagrid and Fudge lingered, Fudge clearly waiting for Hagrid to go first.

Hagrid meanwhile, merely stood there, gathering himself before saying, his voice and words clearly directed at Ascella and her friends, "If anyone wanted ter find out some _stuff_ , all they'd have ter do would be er follow the _spiders_. That'd lead 'em right! That's all I'm saying. Oh! An' someone'll need ter feed Fang while I'm away." Again, real subtle. Were they _trying_ to give them away? And then they were gone, the door banging shut behind them. Ron pulled the cloak off them.

"We're in real trouble now," he said. "With Dumbledore gone there will be an attack a day now."

Harry looked grim, while Ascella nodded thinking, her bottom lip tucked under her top. She was thinking about what Hagrid had said and not about the feeding Fang bit.

"'Follow the spiders'", she mused aloud. "What the bloody fuck does that mean?" Harry and Ron looked at each other before looking back at her and shrugging.

"Hmm," Ascella pursed her lips. "Well anyway we'd best be getting back to the castle." She threw the cloak back over themselves and they headed out. "By the way is _no one_ going to discuss that ridiculous outfit the Minister was wearing?" Her friends snorted.

Back in the Gryffindor common room Ascella was pacing back and forth, while Harry yawned and Ron was snoring, his head dangling at a weird angle off the back of the armchair he was sat in.

"Go over it with me again," Ascella said. They'd spent the better part of the last couple hours going over every detail they had. Ascella particularly wanted to hear the details from when Hermione had run off to the library before she'd been attacked.

"Ce-cells," Harry said through a yawn. "We've been over it a hundred times already."

"I know," Ascella sighed sitting down, her head falling into her hands. "It's just I _know_ we are close! I just need to try and follow Hermione's logic and maybe we'll have it. I can't let her attack to have been for nothing."

Harry's face softened. "I know," he said, his hand going to rub her back. "But we are tired. Maybe we'll have better luck with some sleep."

Ascella felt the tension leave her shoulders. Harry was right. She nodded at him then.

"Come on," she said rising and heading for the stairs, kicking Ron awake as she walked past. He jolted awake with a yelp and glared at Ascella as she and Harry laughed.

Soon it became obvious that summer was upon them, the castle grounds coming alive with sunshine, green grass, and fresh blooming flowers. But the outside warmth did not seep into the castle. With Dumbledore gone and the new curfews in place, every one was on edge, the castle gloomier than it had ever been, even in the dead of winter.

Ascella, in particular was finding it extremely difficult to sneak off to Gryffindor Tower, what with the strict rules on curfew and being escorted everywhere by a teacher. It was because of this that Ascella became the temporary owner of the Invisibility Cloak.

She'd slip it on outside the Great Hall after dinner and walk next to Harry and Ron up to Gryffindor Tower where she spent all her nights. It had been a long time since she had seen the inside of her home tower but she didn't care; she felt safer when she was close to those she cared the most about.

Even visiting the Hospital Wing was proving difficult, as the three friends found out when they'd tried to visit Hermione and had been promptly shooed away by Madam Pomfrey. With the Mandrakes so close she didn't want to risk the creature coming back and finishing off those petrified and that apparently meant no one, not even the friends of the victims could visit.

"Crotchety old bat," Ascella grumbled, looking put out as they'd instead moved on down to lunch.

Harry and Ascella continued trying to puzzle out the clues that they had but to no avail and were instead now keeping their eyes peeled for spiders, helped rather reluctantly by Ron. They'd decided to follow the hint Hagrid had given as he'd been escorted away, having had no luck in figuring the Chamber business out any other way. Unfortunately it soon became increasingly irksome to realize that the castle seemed completely devoid of spiders. Ascella couldn't so much as find a cobweb, even in places she was sure she'd seen cobwebs before, having had to pull them out of her hair. She got so desperate she even started opening random broom cupboards. After she'd walked in on more than one couple snogging though, in various states of undress she'd stopped that, deciding she wasn't really _that_ desperate to find spiders.

While most of the school was terrified there was one person that seemed to glorify in the doom and gloom; Draco Malfoy. Just over two weeks after Hagrid had left Ascella found out why he was so chummed in their morning Herbology lesson.

"Always knew Father would be the one to get rid of Dumbledore," she heard him gloating to his cronies, while she was bent over grinding a dung beatle to dust for use as an additive to the soil. She about broke the ceramic grinding bowl she grew so angry as she listened to him continue to insult both the Headmaster and Hagrid.

Zabini had to stay her hand and snatch the grinder away from her.

"I _think_ that's good," he sneered at her, but even his usually stoic face looked disgusted with Malfoy's happiness. Ascella figured he probably just missed Kevin too, he was after all the only one of their group at all competent at Herbology. Aaron was good at it but without Kevin there he was less focused, his time more spent grossing Ascella out or teasing her mercilessly. More than once the giggling duo had been shot dirty glares by the gold eyed Slytherin.

It was around this time too that Padma and Aaron cornered Ascella on the way to lunch, yanking painfully on her arm and swinging her to the Ravenclaw table instead of where she'd been headed to join Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table.

"Agh! What the hell guys?" Ascella groused rubbing her arm. That's gonna bruise, she thought. Who knew Padma could be so forceful?

"Don't give me that!" Padma hissed, sitting down on one side of her, Aaron on the other. "Where the hell have you been?"

"What do you mean?"

Padma looked around furtively, making sure no one was within ear shot.

"I _mean_ , where have you been? You don't come back to the common room or the dormitory at night?"

It was then that Ascella finally saw the look in Padma's eye, the look mirrored in Aaron's, the real reason they was being so forceful with her. They were worried. Ascella felt a stab of guilt.

"I'm sorry Pads," she said her voice genuine. She turned to Aaron. "Aaron, I didn't even think -" she trailed off. He nodded though, understanding; they both knew what she meant, Kevin's still empty seat paramount in their thoughts. "I didn't think to tell anyone - didn't really think anyone would notice actually. With everything going on I didn't think. I'm so sorry. You don't need to worry though. I've been staying in Gryffindor." Somehow this fact didn't seem to assure either of them. "Tell you what, I'll send Ezzy or I'll magic over a letter to you every night once I'm back safe in Gryffindor. That way you know for sure." That did the trick. They nodded and sat back.

Ascella reached for a sandwich and she couldn't help but grin at Padma and Aaron now that the uncomfortable moment had passed.

"What?" Padma said, more than a little irritated with her friend. Ascella grinned.

"It's just nice to know you care Pads," she teased but then seriously she added. "If it was reversed I'd care too."

"Oh shut it," her friend said, but she didn't look overly put out.

That afternoon, in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry huddled down with Ron and her in the back of the classroom to tell them about the spiders he'd seen during the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Herbology lesson. Apparently Ernie MacMillan had also apologized to Harry for thinking he was the Heir of Slytherin, but Ascella couldn't really be all that bothered to care; why Harry did was still a marvel, but he did. He just didn't like it when people thought bad of him, unlike Ascella who could give a rats ass what people thought of her.

"Enough about that!" Ascella waved him off, voice rapid and hushed. " _What did you see_?"

Harry leaned closer. "Spiders," he said, while Ron paled. "Heading for the Forbidden Forest."

"That's it then!" Ascella breathed. "We have to follow them. Best be tonight. Sooner rather than later," she continued ignoring Ron's squeak of protest. Harry nodded in agreement, eyes bright, both thinking the same thing. Maybe, just maybe, they'd finally solve this mystery once and for all.

"We'll have to use the Invisibility Cloak again," Harry continued with the planning. "And we should take Fang. He's used to going into the Forest with Hagrid."

"Good idea," Ascella said. Ron swallowed nervously.

"Right, but aren't there like werewolves and stuff in the forest?" he asked, looking furtively between the two of them.

"Well, there's good stuff too," Harry replied. "Centaurs and unicorns and such..." Harry trailed off, not meeting either of their gazes.

"Real convincing Harry," Ascella shook her head, at his less than assuring answer. She wasn't looking _forward_ per say to their adventure but she would do it gladly, if it meant they'd get to the bottom of this Chamber business. Ascella looked up abruptly at the sound of jubilant laughter at the front of the room. Her face settled into a scowl. It was Lockhart.

"What's with him?" she jerked her head in his direction, her tone making it clear what she thought of his happy demeanor. Harry and Ron shook their heads, just as Lockhart asked them why they were so upset. Ascella's mouth fell open. He couldn't possibly be serious. Especially asking that to a class that had lost not one but two of it's members to being petrified, Kevin and Hermione's seats noticeably empty.

Apparently Lockhart was happy because he thought, with the culprit caught, and Ascella could only assume he meant the fact that Hagrid had been taken away, that the attacks would stop now and everything would be alright. Harry and Ascella about had to physically restrain Ron when he'd wanted to open his mouth to argue with Lockhart but it was halfhearted; they too wanted nothing more than to throw one of Lockhart's stupid books at his stupid face.

Being confined to the common room by six with a lot to talk about was leaving everyone rowdy and made for a long wait until everyone else had gone up to bed. It didn't help them get away sooner when Fred and George challenged the trio to a few games of Exploding Snap with Ginny sitting perched uncomfortably in Hermione's usual chair watching. Harry and Ron were having particularly bad luck with the games, losing early. It wasn't until Harry hissed at her a quarter to midnight, "Stop winning," that she finally understood. They were losing on purpose in the hopes of getting the twins to go to bed. "I can't start losing now," she hissed back. "It would be suspicious." And so it was well after midnight when the twins, and Ginny, finally went off to bed.

Soon after, the three of them threw the Invisibility Cloak over themselves and made their way through the castle and across the dark lawn to Hagrid's house. Fang greeted them joyfully, even giving Ascella a sloppy kiss on the cheek. Ascella had been the most diligent of the three of them in feeding Fang. She just loved dogs, always had. Growing up she'd begged Meda and Ted for one. She'd easily gotten Ted on her side, but Meda had put her foot down. Her excuse was she was allergic but Ascella knew witches and wizards had easy cures for such allergies, otherwise they'd never have been able to deal with so many cats. Despite this she could have sworn they must have had a dog at some point, a big black dog often a hazy part of her earliest memories.

Harry threw the cloak on Hagrid's table and Ascella beckoned Fang outside, telling him they were going for a walk. At the edge of the forest Ascella and Harry muttered "lumos," lighting both of their wands. Ron refrained, his wand being so unpredictable and all, but conceded it was a good idea on their parts.

"There," Harry said then, first scanning the ground and then pointing out two spiders scampering across the forest floor, while Fang bounded happily around them. Ron swallowed hard, resolving himself and they headed into the forest.

They didn't speak, simply listening hard to the noises around them, as they followed the spider trail deeper and deeper into the forest. Soon only the light of their wands shone, the thick foliage above them having all but blocked out the light from the moon and the stars. It was around this time that the spider trail left the path they'd been walking on. They all stopped, trying to see into the forest but all beyond their wand light was shrouded in the deepest darkness.

"Well, we've come this far," Ascella intoned, swallowing hard and taking the lead pushed the branches and brambles aside, Harry close on her heels, Ron following behind, if reluctantly.

About a half hour later after fighting with the branches grabbing at their robes more than actually moving through the forest, they all about jumped out of their skins at the sound of Fang letting loose a sudden and frightening bark.

"What is it?" Ron's voice echoed loudly, as he clung close to Harry and Ascella.

"Something is out there. Something big," Harry answered. Ascella's blood ran cold. Something big, a werewolf? No, it wasn't the full moon yet, Ascella was sure. There was a particularly loud rumbling and then - silence.

"D'you think it's gone?" Ascella whispered, trying to hold her wand light higher and see into the impenetrable darkness around them. Instead she was blinded by a sudden blaze of light, so bright they all flung up their hands to shield their eyes.

"I think its the car!" Ron shouted then, before bounding off after the bright light.

Harry and Ascella exchanged a perplexed and worried glance, before blundering after their tall red-headed friend.

What they found made Ascella stop short.

"Is that - is that the _car_?" Ascella breathed. Before them was Mr. Weasley's blue Ford Angela that Harry and Ron had crashed into the Whomping Willow earlier in the year, moving forward towards Ron, much like a dog would greet its owner.

The car was scratched up and smeared with mud as though it had spent the better part of the year roving about the forest.

"Well its certainly seen better days," Ascella commented, taking in the back window which had been shattered.

Harry meanwhile, one track mind that he had, commented that they had lost the spider trail. As he was turning to head back the way he'd come Ascella nudged him.

"Wha-" he started but she pointed to Ron. Their friend's attention was fixed behind them, a look of utmost terror on his freckled face.

Ascella felt a prickling along her spine at the sight and made to turn around but it was too late. A loud clicking and scuttling sound came and then she was picked up by something large and hairy. She had a moment to see Ron and Harry similarly swept up, before whatever was holding her started moving, her head hanging upside down, her hair blocking her view. From what she'd been able to discern though was that whatever it was, was large, black and had eight large legs. _Large, bloody spiders,_ she managed to think even through her terror.

Soon (or was it soon? She had completely lost track of time in her terror) the creature deposited her in a heap on the ground. She struggled, tripping up on her robes, and pushing her hair back, mildly annoyed at all the twigs and dry leaves she was going to have to pick out later of her now very tangled hair, lamenting for a moment that she hadn't braided her hair, before she looked up. She immediately wished she hadn't.

Harry, Ron and Fang had been dropped near her, both looking like she felt, silently terrified but unable to make a sound. They were surrounded by giant spiders and looked to be in the midst of their nest. Ascella swallowed, hard, before edging closer to Harry.

It was then, she realized the spider that had dropped Harry was speaking, actually speaking, though it hardly sounded normal due to all the clicking of pincher's. It was saying a name, Aragog, she thought.

Ascella watched horrified then as a spider the size of an elephant emerged from a cave of webbing. She could hardly focus on what the spider was saying, so terrified was she of the monster before her, an Acromantula, her brain oh so helpfully supplied, but even so she couldn't miss when the elephant spider, Aragog, said to kill them.

"Now, wait just a min-" but Harry was speaking too, louder, thankfully, than her, her words not quite having her usual level of assertiveness.

"We're friends of Hagrid's!" Harry shouted. Good thinking. Ascella was impressed.

Ascella looked hopefully at Aragog as he paused. Pausing was good, especially when not pausing meant killing the "men" that had come to their hollow, a sexist comment the spider had made earlier that Ascella at least knew not to comment on.

"Hagrid's in trouble," Harry continued. "Up at the school, they think that Hagrid's been setting loose a - a - something on the students. He's been taken to Azkaban."

While Ascella doubted the creature would know what Azkaban was, she appreciated her friends effort. Talking also meant the spider wasn't killing them.

"But that was years ago," Aragog said. Ascella was almost surprised to see the creature almost look and sound distressed at this news. Giant talking spiders didn't seem like something that should or even could feel emotions. "They believed _I_ was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets."

"And you... you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked, forehead shining with cold sweat.

"No!" the spider spat angrily, if spiders could even spit. Ascella had a flash of curiosity about if they could and almost wanted to ask. Merlin, she thought shaking herself. Apparently she turned into even more of a Ravenclaw when she was scared. _Maybe it's a coping mechanism,_ she mused curiously to herself, before _Stop!_ and refocusing her attention on what the spider was telling Harry.

He was saying that he definitely wasn't the creature in question, that he and his kind do not speak of the creature that it was. Ascella had looked around, eyes wide at that. They spiders around them had reacted violently and with much fear at Harry's question of what the creature was. "A creature we fear above all else," it had said. _A Basilisk?_ Ascella had the flash of thought but that was where it ended as it was also at this point that Ascella began to notice the spiders around them creeping closer to them, as Aragog was backing away into his hollow.

"So we'll just be going then," Harry called, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Go? I think not. I cannot deny my sons and daughters such willing meat."

"Willing my ass!" Ascella exploded, drawing her wand. "You son-of-a-bi-" but Harry cut her off, yanking on her arm and pulling her around, his wand already in his hand.

"Ascella! The car!" he shouted, as he sent a curse behind her and she one over his shoulder.

"The car-" she started to ask but then she saw it. Mr. Wealsey's car was back, thundering toward them, headlights cutting through the darkness, sending spiders flying as it drove through. It screeched to a stop in front of Harry, Ron and Ascella.

"Grab Fang!" Harry shouted as he threw a curse over her shoulder. Ascella grabbed the dog and threw him into the back of the car with a strength she didn't know she possessed adrenaline and fear fueling her and jumped in the back seat after him. Not a second later but did the car tear off, hitting more spiders as it went. Ascella and Harry helped by shooting spells out the windows. At one point Harry asked them how they were doing.

"Oh, just fine!" Ascella moaned, wiping slobber off from her cheek from where Fang had drooled in his own terror as he trembled next to her, while Ron had been only able to nod, still unable to speak.

The car dropped them off at the edge of the forest near Hagrid's hut. Ascella and the others got out, Ascella on trembling legs. Fang followed Harry into the hut and dove under a blanket in his basket while Harry picked up the cloak, and Ron proceeded to violently retch in Hagrid's pumpkin patch.

"Follow the spiders," Ron said weakly when Harry came back out. "I'll never forgive Hagrid. We're lucky to be alive."

"He probably thought it wouldn't hurt friends of his," Harry said.

"Yeah, but he forgets monsters are still monsters and there is a reason they are classified as such," Ascella said. "Remember Norbert?"

Ron nodded his head vigorously in agreement.

"And what was the point," Ron continued. "I mean really? What did we learn?"

"That it wasn't Hagrid. That the creature wasn't a spider," said Harry.

Ascella shook her head. "Oh, real helpful. Now we know it's _not_ a giant Acromantula. Now we just have to start eliminating the other monsters it could be one by one. We could be finished with that by - oh next year." Harry glared at her. She held up her hands. "Nope, I'm with Ron on this one. The risk of that far out weighed what we found out."

Harry sighed then. "Yeah, maybe you're right. C'mon, let's get back to the castle." And back to the castle they went, there exhaustion causing them all to fall into bed and fast asleep. That is until Harry had a brainstorm and shot up out of bed, his bony elbow smacking Ascella in the side of the head.

"Hey! You don't think maybe the person who died last time, that died in a lavatory, you don't think she's still there do you?" he asked Ascella and Ron. Ascella's response was to groan as she felt her temple, forehead wrinkled in pain. Ron meanwhile blinked awake, his eyes coming into focus as the information Harry said slipped in.

"You don't think - _Moaning Myrtle_?" he breathed. Harry nodded, eyes feverish with excitement. Ascella groaned. She knew that look.

"Please don't tell me we have to go back to _that_ lavatory?" she groused, unfortunately already suspecting the answer and knowing that if it helped she'd do it. It was time this Chamber business ended once and for all.

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 **a/n: Again thank you to all my lovely reviewers! You guys brighten my day! As well as all the rest of you readers! Can't believe people actually spend the time to read this :)**

 **One more chapter until we are on to Third Year! I am so excited for you guys to read that year!**

 **a/n 2: sorry again this wasn't the "new chapter" but I promise to get the new one out by the end of the week!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: nope not mine, all belongs to JK Rowling**

 **A/N Ugh. This got way longer than I thought so I apologize for the wait but I wanted to get to 3rd year faster so I decided to keep it all in one chapter!**

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 **May - June 1993**

Turned out, it wasn't going to be as easy as all that. With the new security it was nigh impossible to get away from the teachers, as they were even escorting them to the lavatory now, in addition to between lessons and back to their home common rooms at night. It was so bad in fact, that an unwilling Ascella had even gone so far as to suggest she and Padma could offer themselves up to use the toilet and be escorted to Myrtle's toilet. She may have offered but she had of course not been magnanimous about her offer, making sure Harry knew the level of her unwillingness and making sure he was aware of just how much she was sacrificing by being willing to do this. Oh, and that he would owe her. Big time. Harry told her it wouldn't work anyway though; they didn't want to risk bringing up what could be a touchy subject to Myrtle with a teacher's presence so near.

About a week before June was to begin, Ascella was sat in her usual seat next to Terry Boot in Charms, not paying attention at all, unusual for her at least in Charms, as she was too busy trying to think of a way to sneak to the girls lavatory. She'd suggested the Invisibility Cloak to Harry at lunch but he'd shot her down.

"Too risky. We'd have to take it off at some point to talk to her and can't risk getting caught," he'd told her and she'd grudgingly agreed, though she thought it might be mildly interesting to try and just talk to her while invisible, pretend they were ghosts too or something, they just didn't want to be visible. She thought she'd read somewhere that ghosts could become invisible if they wanted to.

She was brought out of her revere though, when she heard Flitwick make an announcement to the class at large.

"We're what?" she spat out, the room falling silent at her outburst. Professor Flitwick turned his gaze to her. She flushed, embarrassed, and mumbled an apology.

He waved off her apology though.

"Yes, Miss Black," he answered her. "Exams are to start next week and you are all to sit them. I know it will be rough on all of you but we have a duty to Dumbledore to keep this school running as best as possible. I just want you to know that I am proud of you all and to just do your best and try not to worry overmuch." Wise words. Flitwick knew his house well to say that to them as most had quickly gone from worry about the monster in the Chamber of Secrets to intense worry about not being at all prepared for exams, the Chamber induced fear having long driven almost all thought of school from their minds.

It was also around this time that Miss Turpin decided to make an ugly reappearance in Ascella's life. Having spent so many nights in Gryffindor in the recent weeks Ascella had only had to see the girl sparingly in lessons. When she had seen her the snotty know-it-all still appeared to only care about school unlike the rest of their house and year mates, who were more worried about the Chamber. Ascella was too blinded by her annoyance to see that perhaps this was Turpin's way of dealing with the stress and worries, much like Ascella had resorted to curiosities while terrified during she, Harry, and Ron's recent trip into the forest.

So instead of feeling sympathy, Ascella commented rather loudly during their study period overseen by Lockhart, about how could it be that Turpin could be serious about studying so hard at a time like this. Aaron had begun sniggering next to her and Padma even cracked a grin, while Terry merely kept his nose in his Standard Book of Spells Year 2, though his eyes grew wary and stopped moving, as if he was no longer reading the words before him. Micheal Corner and Anthony Goldstein even stopped what they were working on to look up as well. Lockhart was too busy answering fan-mail to pay them any attention.

"Just because I care about school work and exams doesn't make me heartless," Turpin sneered at Ascella, a bit of ink smudged on her nose, quill in hand, books open in front of her.

"Oh come on Turpin," Ascella returned, her voice lazy, her body seemingly relaxed, twirling her wand between her fingers. The stress of the attacks was getting to her too. And it felt good to take a bit of it out on Turpin. "We all care to some degree but it's not like the professors are going to actually fail any of us. Not with all this going on. So why bother acting like exams are the most important thing?"

Turpin flushed, the muscles around her eyes tightening. "They are the most important thing."

The legs of Ascella's chair slammed down at these words, she'd been leaning back in it, an edge abundantly apparent in her gray eyes now.

"Ascella," Terry warned, but Ascella completely ignored him. Even Aaron was disgusted now.

"The most important thing?" Ascella scoffed meanly. "How can you even think that? Kevin and Hermione and all the rest should be here but they aren't. You know, on second thought," she said leaning back again, the edge in her eyes so sharp now that it could cut. "I actually can believe you. You don't have any friends except for Mandy and everyone knows she's only your friend because she's nice, so you wouldn't understand loss if it bit you in your uptight arse." Silence, complete silence, met her words.

Then Aaron laughed aloud. He was joined by Padma and some of the other Ravenclaws. Aaron no doubt, in agreement with the comment about having lost Kevin, the rest likely just disliked Turpin as much as anyone and were glad to see her get knocked down.

Turpin's response was to slam her book closed and rush out of the room alone. Mandy then raced up to Lockhart to compel him to follow her friend as they still had to be escorted everywhere and he was still too distracted to have noticed one of his charges slipped the room under his watch.

Ascella paid for her victory later though. Ten minutes before the new 6pm curfew an out of breath and red faced Padma and Aaron were found outside the Gryffindor common room, demanding to see Ascella. Ascella had rushed out thinking the worst only to find out, as the huffing and puffing duo told her, that Turpin had turned her into Flitwick, telling him she hadn't seen Ascella in their dormitory for weeks now and that she had to get back to the common room before their Head of House caught her gone.

Ascella swore. Then threw the Invisibility Cloak over them that she was still borrowing from Harry and they made their hurried way back.

"Whoa! An actual Invisibility Cloak!" Aaron had breathed.

"Yeah brill, right?" Ascella said as they rushed along, just dodging a duo of 6th year prefects. "How'd you lot get to me anyway?"

"Very carefully," Padma gasped out as they rushed up the stairs on the fifth floor leading to the entrance to their tower, up and up and up they went. At the knocker Ascella told her friends to dart out from under the cloak, that she'd best stay under it until she could find a place to reveal herself.

Her friends darted out around the corner from the knocker where they'd stopped and raced up to the knocker. Aaron reached out and knocked it.

"I only live where there is light, but I die if the light shines on me. What am I?" the knocker asked.

Aaron and Padma looked at each other in a panic.

"I haven't the foggiest," Padma whispered to Aaron, eyes bugging out.

"Okay, we just have to think. Take our time," he tried to calm her, sounding no less panicked.

"We don't have time," Padma hissed at him, eyes darting back towards where Ascella's footsteps could be heard from behind them.

"Sheesh," Ascella spoke in her ear startling her. "Way to keep your cool under pressure. It's a shadow by the way."

"Oh, like I'm going to trust you," Padma whispered back, a hint of haughtiness entering her voice. "You're terrible at these riddles."

"Yeah, but I've actually been given this riddle once with Kevin. I'm sure that's the answer."

"Well alright," Padma said still looking like she didn't believe it. "A shadow," she said louder to the door knocker.

"Very good," it replied before swinging the door open, on a disbelieving Padma and a triumphant and impressed Aaron.

"Nice Pads!" he cheered, while Padma lowered her head blushing, not telling him Ascella had actually gotten it. Ascella made note to set the record straight later. Now, she took their moment of distraction to slip past them and into the common room. And not a moment too soon. There across the room was Turpin the Turncoat and their Head of House, Professor Flitwick. To give her Head of House credit he looked a bit uncomfortable to be standing there, next to the entrance to the girls dormitory, looking for all the world as if he really didn't want to go in there. Turpin volunteered herself to go look for Ascella, with the air of a snotty know-it-all sucking up, the glee, at what to her was sure to be Ascella's imminent doom, evident in her voice.

"Ah, Miss Patil!" he called in his squeaky voice, brightening on seeing her enter the room, looking disconcertingly right through Ascella as she was still invisible. She supressed the urge to shudder or try to step out of the way as if to help him see Padma better. "Would you mind seeing if Miss Black is in the dormitory? Miss Turpin is under the impression she isn't but as you know her so well... maybe you'll have better luck finding her." Flitwick trailed off.

Ascella felt for the man, she really did. But she had a friend to beat to the dormitory so she darted past and slipped in the closing door, after third years Cho Chang and her friend Mariennta something or other were exiting, only just resisting the urge to shove Turpin as she passed. It was probably for the best she didn't too as she wouldn't want the cloak to slip and expose herself. That would have been a whole other kind of explaining to do and would likely have gotten Harry in trouble as well.

From the hallway, Ascella heard Padma reply to Flitwick, her voice at least an octave higher and decibels louder than necessary. She told Flitwick that it would be no problem to go and fetch her friend. Padma even added that she thought Ascella might have been in the shower last she'd seen her.

The shower! Smart girl, that Padma, Ascella thought upon reaching their shared dormitory. She tossed the cloak off herself and into her open trunk (How was her bunk still a mess, even when she was never there?) and pulled out her royal blue towel that was hanging half in the trunk, half out, before whipping her long hair up and tying the towel around it. Just as if she'd just gotten out of a shower. She finished the ensemble by shoving her hands into one of the Weasley twin's (or was it Harry's, she hadn't bothered to remember who she'd stolen it from over Christmas break, oh wait the back read Weasley, one of the twin's then, though she really should have figured that out by the size, Harry wore his clothes baggy but even so he and Ascella wore the same size shirts and this jumper swallowed her) Quidditch jumpers and pulled on some flannel PJ bottoms over her skirt.

She'd just finished when Padma came walking in, Turpin on her heels. Padma looked relieved, while Turpin's blotchy face had gone from gloating happiness, to red faced confusion before settling into murderous rage. Ascella almost laughed.

"Yes?" she said looking up at the two of them, trying for a 'oh how normal it is to see you' look. No doubt she failed. The relief at having made it back was beginning to sink in and she felt herself on the verge of hysterical laughter. She'd have been in deep trouble for sure if Padma and Aaron hadn't made it to her.

"How - what - But I was just in here!" Turpin sputtered, before stamping her foot.

"Whatever is she talking about Padma?" Ascella asked her friend, this time succeeding in sounding bemused.

"Well, Miss Turpin has been under the impression that you haven't been staying in Ravenclaw Tower," Padma answered, matching Ascella's airy tone.

"Aw," Ascella said turning to the girl. "So nice of you to be so concerned." Turpin's mouth shut tight with a snap, and turning on her heel, she left the dormitory.

When her footsteps had faded, only then did Padma and Ascella fall into each other, leaning on each other and laughing. Finally Ascella sighed, her whole body coming down from the surge of adrenaline she'd been running on for the last 15 minutes or so.

"Well, we'd best go show Flitwick I really am here," she said to Padma. Her friend nodded and they proceeded out to the common room, Ascella still dressed in her rather ridiculous post "shower" outfit. Flitwick was relieved and delighted to see her, though he kept apologizing profusely for interrupting her shower. Ascella assured her favorite teacher that it had been no bother, she'd already gotten out of the shower, while Turpin glowered at them from across the room where she sat next to Mandy, the poor girl pointedly avoiding her friend's gaze.

Ascella meanwhile, was practically preening under Turpin's gaze, and not a second after the door had closed behind Flitwick, did Ascella wait until she whipped off the towel from her head and shook out her very obviously dry blond hair. Ascella smirked at the now open mouthed Turpin, tossed her hair with a wave of her hand once more, to further emphasize just what she'd gotten away with, before heading off to the dormitory with Padma.

The next morning Ascella found herself at the Ravenclaw table eating with Aaron and Padma, Terry was off with his other friends for some odd reason, when she looked up at the sound of a bag being dropped loudly across from her. She was met with the glaring green eyes of her best mate, Harry.

"Oh, hullo Harry," she said brightly, her eyes dropping back to her plate before her and continuing to butter her toast. "You'll never believe the adventure I had last night - " But she was cut off by Harry's angry retort.

"Adventure?" he said between gritted teeth. Ascella sat back, surprised at his tone, her arms dropping to rest on the table, knife and toast still in hand.

"What's with you?" she asked hotly.

"What's with me? You go and disappear on me, with my cloak I might add," he hissed at her, eyes darting at those around them, as if afraid they would overhear about his cloak. Best keep it a secret Aaron and Padma now knew, she thought, before Harry continued," without a single word as to where you've gone and you have the audacity to ask me what's with me? I didn't sleep last night. At all. I was terrified something had happened to you. Just like Hermione. Or worse," he added the last, his usual pale face somehow even more pale.

The blood from Ascella's face drained away. She let her toast fall to her plate, suddenly not hungry, her stomach rolling with guilt instead. She looked closer at her friend and it was only then that she finally noticed the bags under his eyes.

"I'm - so stupid," she said, her voice muffled. "I'm sorry Harry. It's just Padma and Aaron showed up to tell me Flitwick was looking for me and - and well I had to run..." she trailed off at the still intense gaze Harry was fixing with her. "I'm sorry Harry," she said her eyes downcast now. "I should've sent you a message. Let you know I was alright."

Harry sighed. "S'alright I 'spose," he said, his uptight posture deflating, a sign he'd forgiven her. "Just don't ever do anything like that again," he warned, pointing a finger at her. Ascella snorted at the antic.

"Okay, Dad," she teased. He grinned.

"Now what's this about Flitwick coming to check on you? Why would he do a thing like that?"

"One word: Turpin," Ascella said darkly, before she explained what had happened the night before.

"But I think she'll get what's coming to her," Ascella finished the story with, feeling delighted at what she'd done.

"Oh yeah? What did you do?" Harry asked.

"Put itching powder in all her uniforms and all her shoes," Ascella said evilly, before turning her eyes toward the mousy girl. Harry followed her gaze only to have to turn away for laughing. Down at the opposite end of the table, sat Lisa Turpin, practically falling out of her seat so profusely was she trying to itch herself, squirming too much to even eat breakfast, while Mandy looked concerned and tried to give advice only to be snarled at by Turpin.

And it got better; Snape gave the girl a weeks worth of detention for not sitting still when he told her too. Ascella and Aaron had almost received a night's worth because they'd been sniggering so badly in the back of the classroom.

It was later in Charms where Ascella found out why Boot had been seeming to avoid her. She was tipped off when he refused to look up at her and greet her with his usual pleasant smile when she flounced down next to him in her usual seat. She greeted him as usual, a greeting that he didn't return, his nose still stuck in a book. Ascella narrowed her eyes, mildly annoyed.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Nothing," came Terry's reply. Ascella's eyes narrowed further. He was lying, she could tell.

"Nothing, huh? So that's why you're pretending to read your book then? And refusing to look at me," she stated the obvious. It didn't take a genius to figure out his eyes weren't moving over the page and that he was acting different from how he usually did.

Terry still refused to meet her eyes but at least he gave up his pretense of reading, his eyes rising to look elsewhere.

"Come on Boot. Tell me," Ascella said, growing a bit concerned now.

In a hushed voice, shoulders hunched down, eyes trained at the wall behind Flitwick, who had just begun the lesson, Terry finally spoke.

"Did you have to have a go at Turpin?"

Ascella couldn't help it, she let out a shout of laughter. That was what this was about? She managed to stop her laughter though at the pained look Terry threw her way at her outburst.

"Come on Terry, you can't honestly tell me you think I went too far?" His expression said that she had though. Ascella couldn't help but feel taken aback. Sure, Terry had never joined her in her pranking of their house mate, that is when Ascella could be bothered to notice Turpin, but he at the very least had never said anything against Ascella before. Ascella fixed him with a harder look then, trying to read what he was thinking behind his usually warm eyes. It would help if he'd stop avoiding her gaze. Sighing, she asked, "Is that what this is really about?" instead.

Terry flushed and mumbled a response to his lap.

"Come again?" Ascella asked, leaning closer.

"I was studying too," he said, voice just barely audible.

"What?" Ascella asked, now thoroughly confused.

"Yesterday, in study hour," Terry clarified, looking up at her, his voice louder if only a fraction and his words tumbling out as if he'd been holding them in for awhile and wanted them all out now that he'd started. "When you antagonized Turpin. I was studying too. I care about exams too. Despite what's been going on." He said it as if expecting reproach, looking as if preparing himself to be hurt by it, yet defiant anyway.

Instead, Ascella scoffed at him. "Of course you do," she said dismissing what he'd said with a wave of her hand. In truth, she felt relieved that this was what he was on about, for a second she'd worried it would was something actually serious. "Still don't see your point..."

"My point," Terry ground out, unusually irritated. The last time she had seen him like this had been the previous year when he'd snapped at her when she hadn't been studying for exams and in fact had been, as he put it, "blatantly flaunting," that she didn't need to study, by reading books about Animagi. "My point," he continued, restarting and gathering himself, "is that - well -," his volume lowered again, his eyes searching hers. "Is what you said to Turpin what you think of me too?"

"Puh!" Ascella wanted to laugh again. She managed not too though, able to tell that Terry was only driven to ask this because it deeply bothered him. "Don't be ridiculous," she tried for a softer tone, having no idea if she succeeded. " A.) You're my mate. 'Nuff said. B.) You aren't a horrid, sneering, mousy person like Turpin. C.) You aren't a suck up or a know-it-all. You genuinely help people. And, most importantly, D.) You would never say exams are the most important thing right now, studying yesterday or not doesn't change that. No, I know that," Ascella continued, cutting off what was sure to be a protestation from Boot, who'd opened his mouth to speak. "I've seen you neglect your studies on more than one occasion to help me, Pads, and even Aaron, who I know you don't particularly care for. So shut your mouth," he did, looking rather pleased at her words, "And tell me what in Rowena's sake brought this on?"

Terry stiffened in seat, his smile fading, his face now pinched in as if he really didn't want to talk about this. He did anyway though, maybe knowing that Ascella wouldn't let him get away with not answering.

"I don't know 'Cella. I guess - I just wonder sometimes what you really think of me. Of people in general, I guess."

"Terry," she started flatly. "Everyone has their faults - I don't, of course -" Here, Terry snorted and rolled his eyes, with what Ascella chose to take as affection for her at her words and antics. "But one fault that I definitely don't have, is being two-faced. Not to any degree. If I don't like someone, or something they've done, they'll know it. I can't - and won't - hide it nor will I pretend to play nice."

"Oh no, no faults at all, especially not lacking in humility. You clearly don't think much of yourself at all."

"I know! - Wait was that sarcasm?"

"Noo... not at all."

"You're a terrible liar. Like really bad. But your sarcastic tone is on point. If misused in this instance. We'll work on timing," she said, patting his arm.

"Yeah," he said, drawing the word out, a small smirk on his face. "And you aren't condescending. Nope, not at all," Terry said, his sarcasm, still misplaced, Ascella tried to tell herself.

"Well, excuse me. Didn't know today was point out all Ascella's faults," she pouted. Terry's only response was to grin. Ascella returned the grin, thinking the issue was closed now, but apparently she had spoken louder than she'd thought on the last statement, because Padma and Aaron leaned forward from the table behind them, eager to point out more of Ascella's faults too.

"Don't forget intimidating. The poor first years won't come anywhere near her," Padma started.

"Forget the first years, they're scared of anyone, but even the seventh years won't come near 'Cella!" Aaron added, grinning, taking too much joy in the topic change, Ascella couldn't help but think, his blue eyes cutting at her with mischief in them.

"Oy! I resent that!"

"Have we mentioned she's argumentative?" Pad's continued to the other two, flat ignoring Ascella. Ascella crossed her arms.

"I am not!"

They all looked at her then like 'isn't she so cute? Doesn't even realize she just proved our point.' Ascella blew out her side fringe from her face.

"Ugh," Padma said, her lip curling as she watched the hair flutter around Ascella's face. "And don't get me started on that hair of hers. It's bloody perfect and she's always flaunting it."

Ascella couldn't help but to preen a little at these words. She did have great hair. Why pretend it wasn't amazing? Unfortunately, Padma noticed Ascella's preening, her face darkening.

"Watch it," she threatened, her pointer finger aimed at Ascella, "or one of these days I'm going to chop it all off in your sleep."

Ascella's mouth dropped open, horrified, her hands going to her hair as if to protect it from Padma. Padma sniggered, while the boys grinned. Ascella reluctantly lowered her hands, pout-glaring now at her friends.

"Alright, alright, no one's perfect," she said. Her friend's watched her with raised eyebrows, waiting for her to continue. Ascella huffed. "Even me," she added. Satisfied, her friends let up. "But I am pretty damn close!" They all groaned but their smiles assured Ascella that they expected nothing less and they liked her still.

A few days later, three days before their first exam was to start to be exact, Ascella was sat between Ron and Harry at the Gryffindor table when McGonagall announced to the Great Hall that the Mandrakes were ready for cutting and that that night they would be able to revive those petrified and that they would in turn might be able to tell them who the culprit was that had put them there, news that was met with heavy cheering from almost all.

Not seconds later, a nervous Ginny Weasley came and sat down next to Ron, her hands twisting in her lap. Ron reached for more porridge and asked her what was wrong. She didn't respond, except to look up and down the table, eyes darting around nervously.

"Spit it out," Ron said while Harry, eyes on Ginny leaned in to whisper to Ascella.

"She's acting like Dobby," he said. "The house elf," he added as if Ascella could ever forget who that name belonged to. She still wanted to meet the slightly crazy sounding little elf. "She's acting like him when he was about to reveal something that he was forbidden to say." Ascella's gaze sharpened in on the young first year, as the girl in question began to rock back and forth in her seat.

"I - I've got to tell you something," she mumbled to Ron, eyes pointedly avoiding both Harry's and Ascella's.

"What?" Harry asked, his tone kind but no less urgent. Ginny continued to squirm and wring her hands together. Harry leaned further forward and spoke his voice soft.

"Is it to do with the Chamber of Secrets Ginny? Have you seen something? Someone acting odd?"

Ginny drew a deep breath, opened her mouth as if ready to finally speak, Ascella practically knocking Harry off the bench so far over was she leaning on him to be closer, when non other than Perfect-Prefect-Percy-Pompous Weasley had to show up and scare her off.

"Percy!" Ron angrily said to his brother. "She was just about to tell us something important!"

Percy choked on the cup of tea he was sipping. Ascella laughed cruelly, not willing to forgive him yet for his unwelcome arrival.

"What sort of thing?" he said coughing.

"Well I asked her if she'd seen anything odd and she started to say - "

"Oh, that," Percy cut his brother off. "That's nothing to do with the Chamber."

"How do you know?" Ron asked, eyebrows furrowing.

"Er, well Ginny walked in on me the other day, if you must know, while I was - well, nevermind that - the point is I asked her to not mention it. I must say I really had expected her to keep her word. It's nothing really, just rather - "

Ascella didn't think she'd ever seen Percy look so flustered before, not even when the twins were poking fun at him.

"Oh come on, tell us," Ron said grinning. "We won't laugh."

"Yeah, come Perce, tell us," Ascella added, mirroring Ron's evil grin.

Percy ignored them both, instead asking Harry for the rolls. Harry, the traitor, handed them to him. If Percy'd asked Ascella she would have held them ransom 'til he gave up his secret or moved off, either way it would have been preferable to spending the rest of breakfast with him.

On the way to Defense, Ascella was watching Boot thoughtfully where he laughed with Padma, Corner, Goldstein and Aaron, walking along ahead of them. Still watching them, she asked Harry a question.

"Do you think I'm argumentative? And condescending? And not humble?

Harry's response was to burst into laughter. Ascella glared at him. He stopped laughing.

"Oh," he said. "You were being serious." Ascella's glare deepened. "No," he cleared his throat. "You aren't any of those things. Not at all."

"Oh shut it," was her response.

Later that morning, after Defense, Lockhart was escorting them to their next lessons when Harry had a stroke of genius and he convinced the overly cheerful Lockhart to let them make their own way to their next lesson. He'd gotten the idea as Lockhart had just been complaining about still having to escort them to lessons now that the petrified people would be waking up soon, sure the first thing out of their mouths would be that Hagrid was the culprit.

"Genius, Harry!" Ascella breathed to her friend as they let the other Gryffindor's and Ravenclaw's draw ahead of them. They then darted down a side passage and began heading for Myrtle's toilet.

It was also then that a sharp voice sounded from a passage to the right.

"Potter! Weasley! Black! What are you doing?" It was McG and she looked non too pleased, her mouth thinner than Ascella had ever seen it, and she'd seen it at some previously unknown levels of thin on many occasions, most usually late at night in the Gryffindor common room when she got caught there after hours.

"We were - we were -" Ron stuttered. "We were going to - to go and see -"

"Hermione," Harry jumped in, stomping on Ron and Ascella's feet to get them to shut their mouths at his words and go along with the plan. "It's been ages." Somehow McG missed the foot stomping.

"Yeah, lots of ages," Ascella added trying to be helpful. Harry cut her a look that said she'd failed.

To all of their surprises though, instead of exploding at them for being out without a professor, McGonagall actually let them off, a tear glistening in her eye. Not only did she let them off, she even escorted them to the Hospital Wing and told Madame Pomfrey that they had her express permission to visit with their friend.

They had no choice then but to go in. It was then sitting next to Hermione that Harry noticed a crumpled up bit of parchment in Hermione's hand. Managing to get it out, Harry, Ron and Ascella all leaned in to read it. It was a page torn out of a library book, Ascella almost rolled her eyes, Hermione would be petrified clutching a bit of a library book, until she continued reading it, her eyes widening.

"That's it," Harry breathed looking up at his non-petrified friends. "She'd figured it out. The creature in the Chamber is a basilisk!" Huh, that name reminded her of something. Where had she heard that before? She squinted back at the parchment, her eyes alighting on the words 'Spiders flee before it...'

"Oh yeah!" she said. "I meant to tell you lot that that's what spiders fear." Harry and Ron fixed her with unbelieving stares.

"Cella!" Harry all but groaned at her, head falling into his hand.

"What?" she defended herself. "There's been a lot going on!"

Harry was apparently too excited about the discovery though to be too upset with her as all the rest of the nearly year long mystery of the Chamber came together, the mirror Hermione had been using to look around corners to avoid directly looking at the creature, that Kevin must have seen the snake's eyes in the reflection of the library windows, how the entrance to the Chamber was probably in Moaning Myrtle's toilet, that the creepy monster was using the plumbing to get around. Ascella had shuddered at that. She didn't think she'd ever look at the Hogwarts plumbing the same, not that she'd taken much thought to it all that much anyway really, except for when she'd been disgusted to learn that Hogwarts had only introduced plumbing in the 18th century. Apparently, wizards and witches had previously just relieved themselves wherever they were and vanished the evidence. Like what in Merlin's sake were her wizarding ancestors thinking? Even the Roman's had figured out plumbing. Well, at the very least better than pre-18th century British Isles Wizards had, apparently.

They'd then promptly rushed off to the staff room, to tell the teachers what they had, or rather what Hermione had, discovered about the Chamber. Ascella, meanwhile had been fascinated to discover the staff room was actually a real place in the castle ("I mean honestly, their lives are sad enough as teachers at a 10 month long boarding school, do they have to try and make it 'less' sad by spending time together?").

Instead of telling the teachers anything, though, they had hid in a wardrobe and learned that Ginny Weasley had been taken into the Chamber and that "apparently" Lockhart was going to go and fetch her, because he knew so much about the Chamber.

Harry and Ascella had looked sharply in concern at Ron at the news that his youngest sibling had been the student taken into the Chamber. Ron's only response had been to slid down to the wardrobe floor, his legs having given out. Ascella's hand went, unthinking, to his shoulder, where she squeezed it in silent comfort.

Ascella herself, almost felt her eyes go a little damp when her Head of House burst into tears at the combined news that a student had been taken and that the school would have to close, almost being the key word. Ascella could count on one hand the number of times she'd cried in her thirteen years and she wasn't about to add another to her count now.

Ascella didn't remember the trip back up to Gryffindor Tower after they'd snuck out of the staff room. She didn't remember much of the afternoon, spent in such silence as it was, she and Harry sitting with all the Weasley boys save for Percy, who'd locked himself up in his dormitory after writing Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. She barely even remembered McGonagall finding her there, curled up next to Harry on a couch, her gray eyes wide and staring. McGonagall hadn't even questioned it though, just telling her to stay put and that she'd inform "Filius" of her whereabouts.

Some time after sunset, after the twins had gone up to bed, unable to sit there any longer, Ron spoke for the first time since they'd heard the news. At first Harry and Ron had begun by consoling Ron and assuring him, however futilely, that Ginny was still alright, but soon after this a gleam grew in Ron, a gleam of determination; he wasn't about to give up on his sister. He then suggested they go tell Lockhart what they'd found as he'd said he was going after the girl. Harry and Ascella looked at one another, shrugged, neither able to think of anything better to do, and agreed. All three rose as one and crossing the room of dejected Gryffindors, exited, none of the other students doing anything to try and stop them.

When they found Lockhart in his office it was to discover the bastard was packing up for home, that he had no intention whatsoever of going in to the Chamber. He then proceeded to tell them his greatest secret; he hadn't actually done any of the things he said he did in his books, ("I knew it! Wait 'til I tell Meda!" Ascella had shouted at this only to be silenced by a look from Harry that clearly said now wasn't the time), that in fact the only thing he really was good at anymore were Memory Charms, which he'd have to be performing on them. Luckily, Harry reached his wand just in time and shouting, "Expelliarmus!" Lockhart was thrown backwards off his feet, his wand flying high into the air. Ron caught it and threw it out an open window.

"Nice one," Ascella told Ron. "You as well Harry, you as well, but we expect such actions from you."

"Oy!" Ron protested. Harry, meanwhile, still had his wand facing Lockhart. Ascella soon followed suit and drew her own.

They then proceeded to march Lockhart before them to Myrtle's toilet.

"I swear to Merlin, this had better be the last time I set foot in here," Ascella muttered as she pushed the door open with her hip, keeping her wand and one eye on Lockhart and one eye in front.

Once in the room, Harry asked Myrtle how she had died. Because the ghost had some sort of weird crush on him she proceeded to tell him. Or maybe she'd have told anyone that asked, as she talked about her death with just a little too much joy in her voice, for Ascella's liking.

The ghost then pointed out the sink that she had been facing when it had happened. Walking over to it the group found a faucet with a little snake on it. Harry made the strange hissing and spitting sounds that he had made at dueling club. At first nothing happened and then there was a great rumbling and the sinks moved back to reveal a giant pipe leading down into the dark.

Harry looked at Ascella and Ron.

"I'm going down there," he said. Ascella sighed as Ron voiced his agreement. She recognized the look in Harry's eye and knew his mind was made up.

"Fine," she said "Me too. Merlin knows you'd both probably get killed with out me."

"Is it just me or does she get more sarcastic when we are in potentially life threatening situations?" Ron mused to Harry.

"Oh shut it," Ascella said before either could reply. "I'm coming, aren't I? But I am not going first. I will not be the first one to go down that tunnel and find myself covered in snake goo or something equally disgusting from the ride down."

"Make Lockhart go first," Ron said, with a shrug.

"Oooh! Yeah, make Lockhart go first," Ascella agreed. And so they did. Then it was there turns. Harry and Ron followed Lockhart down in short order and Ascella, not wanting to be left waiting with Myrtle, hopped down after them.

"Whoo!" Ascella yelled, thoroughly enjoying the rushing ride down. That is until she got to the bottom and found herself plopped into a large pile of something oddly squishy.

"What the bloody hell -" she said holding up her hand, the stuff slopping around her and off her robes. She looked up to find Ron bent double laughing so hard he wasn't making any noise, tears at the corners of his eyes, while even Harry was suppressing a grin.

"Nice to see you lot can still laugh in such a dire situation as this. Don't know if I'd be able to laugh if my sister was trapped in some creepy underground tunnel." That comment shut Ron up. "Now what in Merlin's name have I landed in?" Ascella asked, slowly extracting herself from the nasty goop, her feet making sucking noises every time she pulled one from the stuff to take a step towards the edge of it.

"Er 'Cella," Harry said bracingly. "Er - I think it might - er- well I think it's snake droppings."

She froze at that word.

"You mean snake shite? I landed in snake shite?"

"Uh- huh."

Ascella squealed and ran as fast as she could out of the muck, which wasn't very fast as it seemed determined to never let her go.

Ron couldn't help it; he started laughing again.

His distraction proved to almost be all of their undoing though, as Lockhart made a jump for Ron's wand. Brandishing the spellotaped wand at them he proceeded to attempt to Obliviate them. Only the spell backfired and caused a cave in.

Coughing, Ascella heard Harry's voice call from the other side asking if they were okay. She shouted to him that they were, aside form the fact that in addition to being covered in snake "droppings" she was now also covered in dust with small bits of rock stuck to her face, no doubt lodged in some of the poop she hadn't had time to get off. Ascella was trying really hard not to think about it.

Ron then told Harry that Lockhart wasn't fine though. Ascella, her patience already thin from being covered in nasty unmentionables, didn't even bother trying to deal with their inane Professor, who appeared to have Obliviated himself, so she picked up the nearest rock and struck him over the head, knocking him out cold.

"Rowena, I've wanted to do that all year," she sighed, the act actually having a bit of a therapeutic affect for her.

"What was that?" Harry called.

"Ascella just knocked Lockhart out with a rock," Ron answered, looking part impressed, part jealous he hadn't done it and part frightened of her.

"'Cella!" Harry said.

"What? It's not like a concussion will hurt his memory? He's already lost it!" Ascella could practically hear Harry's rolling his eyes.

Harry then told them he'd be going on.

"Be careful!" Ascella told him, a tightness in the back of her throat. All she knew was that the git better come back. And then, all too soon, even the echos of his footsteps were gone as he continued on.

Ascella spent the time waiting for Harry's return, alternatively helping Ron with the big rocks with magic and scourifying herself, all the while chewing nervously on her lip, worry for Harry eating at her from the inside.

But he came back. Always the hero, he came back. And he wasn't alone. A shaken and pale Ginny Weasley was tucked behind him. Ron roared at the sight and buried his sister in a hug, while Ascella jumped into Harry's arms ignoring the fact that covered in blood as he was, she was surely adding to the grim she'd just spent so much time getting off.

They took Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix, up and out of the pipe, the group of them forming a weird chain made of people.

They then proceeded to head for McGonagall's office but on the way to tell her what had happened, Ascella drew back. Only Harry noticed, drawing back a moment with her.

"Not coming?" he asked

"I'll leave the hero worthy credit to you," Ascella waved him off. "Me? I'm going to go take a nice, long, and hot, shower. I am disgusting."

Harry wrinkled his nose.

"Good idea. You smell."

"Ha! You think I smell? At least I'm not the one covered in blood. Gag."

Harry rolled his eyes. "No, just Baslisk shite."

"Bugger off."

"Happy you're alright too Cella," he intoned, sarcasm evident in his voice. Ascella smiled warmly.

"I really am happy you're alright. If you hadn't been I'd have found someway to bring you back, if just so I could kill you again for dying on me and leaving me to the likes of having to replace my best mate. I mean really, how you could dare to be so inconsiderate. Do you know how long it takes to break in a best mate?"

"Oh, shove off 'Cella," Harry said, but they were both smiling too widely for either to truly believe the other was anything but grateful to see the other alive and safe. Ascella rushed Harry one last time, and gave him a tight hug before she darted away and did just as she'd said, taking a welcome, long and hot, shower, before changing into a soft pair of pajamas and promptly falling asleep in Harry's bed as soon as her head hit the pillow. Sometime around midnight though, she was rudely awakened by someone jumping into the bed with her, or rather two someone's.

"Argh!" she flailed around, a snarky quip for the intruders on the tip of her tongue, as what sounded like quite the group of people surrounded her in laughter. She stopped the quip though as she caught sight of a mane of bushy brown hair and shaggy black hair. "Oh! 'Mione!" Ascella said throwing her arms around her friend, before turning to the other intruder, and tackling him in a hug as well. "Kevin!" She felt his hot breath on her neck as he laughed, returning her hug. His breath, something so small, a sign he really wasn't petrified anymore, making her even more aware of just what it meant, he was back. They both were. Then she looked finally up at the rest around them and saw all of her friends gathered around, Padma and Terry, standing with the infectiously grinning Aaron. Harry and Ron were there too, both looking exhausted but grinning nonetheless. And Hermione and Kevin.

"It really is over, isn't it?" Ascella said to all of them but only looking at Harry.

"It really is," he smiled at her. "Now come on! There's an all night feast going on!" Ascella's stomach growled loudly at the thought of food, she couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten. Her friends all laughed and Ascella challenged them all to a race to the Great Hall. She won. And to top off an ace night, McGonagall announced end of year exams were canceled! Only Hermione was upset. All in all it was a wonderful way to end a dark, dark year and surrounded by her friends Ascella couldn't help but think the coming years could only bring more excitement for her and her friends. She found herself looking forward to it, but for now she had some English pudding to help herself to.

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 **a/n Got super long! Sorry again, I just kept adding stuff, so sorry for that and for not getting it up as soon as I said! Let me know what you think if you feel inclined! Next Chapter: summer before 3rd year and news of Sirius's escape, woot woot! :) 'Bout to get interesting... Be prepared for everyone to be getting a bit older too, first crushes starting to develop... etc etc**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: Do not own anything related to Harry Potter**

 **a/n: Third year is so fun to write! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **July - August 1993**

 **Breakout From Azkaban: Notorious Mass Murderer Sirius Black at Large Once More.**

Thirteen, almost fourteen, year old Ascella Black sat holed up in her room, the Daily Prophet laid out before her on her bed, moonlight drifting across her soft blue comforter, a deranged photo of Sirius Black, _her father_ , staring up at her from the front page. Her gray eyes, so alike in color and shape to those of the man on the front page, were darting back and forth as she read the article attached to the photo for the umpteenth time.

Meda and Ted hadn't wanted her to see it. In fact they'd tried to hide it from her, Meda shoving the paper behind her back when Ascella had walked into the kitchen at breakfast. It was clear they'd both just had their heads bent together reading the article. Ascella might have not thought anything of it, she wasn't much for reading the news, except for the way they were acting. Meda was edgy, her hands shaking as she poured Ascella a cup of hot water for tea, forgetting to give her the tea bag until Ascella asked, and Ted didn't read the newspaper at the table like usual, instead both of them hovered over her and kept shooting sad, concerned eyes at her and fussing.

She'd caught on quickly, she wasn't stupid after all, and had casually asked to see the morning paper. Meda's quick response that there was nothing interesting in it, so she'd already tossed it, made Ascella sure they were hiding something from her. Meda quickly changed the subject after, rambling about some new potion she was working on. Even if Ascella hadn't figured out Meda was lying from the way her guardian was acting then the sight of a corner of the Prophet sticking out from the drawer next to the sink, where it had been hastily stored upon her own arrival, would have alerted her that Meda was lying.

What really tipped her off that something was up though, was the letter she'd received shortly after from Dora. It was hastily written, as if scribbled in a hurry, Dora was training to be an Auror and so was informed when crazy things happened, and was along the lines of ' _oh just checking in. Wanted to make sure you were doing alright. I'll be by to visit later...'_ blah, blah, blah. It was clear they'd all known and hadn't thought it worthwhile to share with her, a thought that still irked her. He was _her_ father after all, you'd think the first person that should know the murdering bastard was at large again would be her, but _noo_ better to keep the young one in the dark.

After Ted had gone to work later that morning Ascella had offered to help Meda with her gardening, something she never did willingly, and successfully distracted Meda from thoughts of the paper. She'd then snuck into the kitchen on the pretense of bringing them both lemonade after a couple hours in the hot sun, both covered in dirt, and had snatched up the paper hiding it under her shirt before she could sneak it to her room to read later. And she hadn't stopped reading it since she'd opened it, countless hours ago now. Over and over, again and again. She'd long since memorized every word, the nastier truths resounding in her head as she blindly read the article once more. " _Murdered twelve people with a single curse_ ", " _You-Know-Who's biggest supporter_ ", " _Deatheater... deatheater... deatheater_ ".

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, couldn't take looking at the deranged man that looked hardly human, couldn't look at the shape of those eyes and not see the truth, this man, this _thing,_ was her father, couldn't read the words anymore. She flung the paper across her room. It hit the wall and unfurled, sliding down to the floor in a heap of loose paper, the photo of her father still perversely staring out at her, despite her efforts. Glaring she resolutely curled up on her bed so her back was facing it, staring out the window, still unable to escape the words she'd so easily memorized.

She didn't remember falling asleep but when she did, she dreamt a man with hollow eyes, and a sunken face, the skin stretched across it like a corpse was chasing her, trying to catch her, trying to speak while she fled in terror. She woke in a cold sweat, her eyes snapping open a wild look in them. Other than that she didn't move. It took her a moment to realize where she was, safe in her second story bedroom at the cottage she'd grown up in. The sun had replaced the moon from the night before in shining across her bedspread. Another nice summer day. Too bad she wasn't in the mood to enjoy it.

Ascella thought of staying in bed longer, but it was already later than she usually slept. And she was angry. Angry that her father was so deranged, angry that the Azkaban guards had let him slip away, angry that Ted and Meda didn't think she could handle the news. Seeing as only one of the three she was angry at were within her sights, she proceeded to dress quickly and march herself down to breakfast.

She caught Ted and Meda once again talking in hushed voices in the kitchen.

"Mor - ning!" Ascella sang out, trying for overly cheerful. She'd catch them yet. She walked over to the counter where Meda had made her favorite, thick cut bacon, fried eggs, and hashbrowns, and loaded her plate up, while her guardians once again tried dually to hide the morning paper and act like absolutely nothing was wrong. They didn't fool Ascella for a second. It didn't help that she knew Ted should have left for work almost an hour ago, that Meda would never have let her sleep this late, while simultaneously keeping the food warm with a warming charm, nor was there any special reason for Meda to make Ascella's favorite breakfast.

"So I was thinking," Ascella mused aloud at the table, as she scooped up some egg with a slice of bacon. Ted and Meda had joined her, both sipping tea and watching her with a wary eye. "That I'd visit with Kevin today and see what we can get up to in the village -" but she was cut off.

"No!" both Meda and Ted said together, before looking wide eyed at each other. If Ascella wasn't so annoyed she might have found their reactions comical.

Instead, she slowly lowered her bacon and egg and asked coolly, "Oh? And why not?" staring pointedly at the two of them, giving them the chance to stop skirting around the issue and tell her.

"Because - well - because you need - you are -" Meda stumbled out before closing her mouth and looking helplessly at Ted.

"What Meda means is that I'm taking you to work!" Ted said. He said it like it was such a treat, a big grin on his face, his arms thrown wide in invitation. Ascella knew better. They wanted to keep an eye on her. And they were doing it by offering up something that she'd always loved to do. She was almost tempted to decline the invite out of spite, had even opened her mouth to do so when Ted said, "We can even see if Dora would be free for lunch." Damn him. It had been almost two weeks since Ascella had seen Dora.

"Fine," she said shortly. Then rising, her breakfast all but untouched, "I'll just go write Kevin and tell him we will reschedule." She all but stalked out of the kitchen, unable to keep up her fake smile of happiness as she passed Ted. He noticed, his warm brown eyes watching her. She heard him sigh when she was out of the room and on the stairs.

She hadn't left to go write Kevin, the plans she'd said they had having been made up, while not out of the realm of possibility, but she'd had to leave before she exploded at them for still trying to hide her father's escape from her. Reaching her room, she flung open the door and marched over to her desk. She almost thought she might write to Kevin, but thought better of it; he was at Aaron's up in the far north and didn't deserve to be burdened with this, no matter how close they'd grown this summer.

She and Kevin had spent near everyday together since school let out, just over a month ago now as they were currently into the last week of July. At first it had been like they were trying almost to make up for all the time they'd missed during the school year but then the dynamic had shifted. For the most part they still had the same fun they'd always had, pranking the muggles or old man Archie, especially the previous week when Aaron had come to visit, but there were subtle differences now. They talked more, about serious things, like how Kevin was worried his muggle parents were headed for divorce. He thought it was his fault, his and his younger sister's, who'd just received a letter from Hogwarts too, because his mum couldn't handle that neither of her children were "normal". It had apparently also just come out that their father was actually a squib, but after the rest of his family had been killed in the first war, he'd retreated from wizarding society. Kevin didn't know who he hated being around more, he'd whispered to Ascella one day.

And so to help him get away, Ascella kept him busy with their usual antics, or invited him and his sister over to dinner, and sometimes they'd even find themselves a quiet moment away from everything, each with a book in hand, and perch themselves up in a tree on the edge of the Greenfield Meadow just outside the village. And it wasn't just their relationship that had changed, Kevin had too. He was more serious in some ways, one could still see the mark his attack had left on him, if not physically, but Ascella somehow didn't mind the change. He was still Kevin and she liked having him around, but he was somehow more mysterious now and she found she liked that too.

Physically, Kevin had perhaps changed the most, having sprung up, the first of the boys aside from Ron to pass her in height and his voice had begun to crack and deepen. He was even starting to lose some of the puppy fat from his once boyish round face, the planes and angles of his face more pronounced now. Ascella often found herself looking at it when they were perched in the tree, appreciating the way his thick shaggy black hair hung into his almond shaped eyes, touching the tips of his ever more pronounced high cheekbones and the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he'd look up and smiled at her, the dark brown catching the light through the leaves, making them seem to dance with golds as well as the usual brown. She told herself she looked at him so much because she was so glad to have her friend back but that didn't explain the slight blush she felt whenever he looked her way in those quiet moments, or the stirrings of something like butterflies she felt in her stomach. She didn't know what they meant and she usually attempted to knock Kevin out of the tree when she felt this way rather than dwell on its meaning, effectively returning them to their usual comfortable banter.

Ascella sighed now, bent over her desk, quill in hand, a piece of parchment beneath her palm. No, she couldn't write Kevin, he had enough on his plate. Her next immediate thought was Harry. She and her best mate had been corresponding regularly this summer, unlike the last when Dobby the house elf had been intercepting Harry's letters. She'd even sent his birthday present off a few days previous, with a threat that he'd better wait to open it until the 31st. But no, even Harry would not do. Ascella had still yet to tell her best friend about her father and she really didn't want to explain that, as well as her frustrations with her guardians, in a letter.

She thought of her other friends and dismissed each of them in turn: Hermione - off in France for the summer with her parents, Ron - who she'd seen for more than a few pickup Quidditch games this summer, had just left for a family trip to Egypt after Mr. Weasley had won the annual _Daily Prophet_ Grand Prize Drawing, Padma - also away on holiday, in India visiting relatives, Terry - who she wouldn't even know where to begin with the letter and Aaron - who she felt just wouldn't understand.

Ascella sighed. She had no one, not a one to write to. A knock came then at her open door. It was Ted.

"You ready?" he asked, voice cautious. Ascella scowled.

"Yes," she muttered, throwing her quill down, where the ink splattered in a blotch on the parchment. She grabbed a jumper from one of many clothes piles strewn about the floor, it was always freezing near the offices where Ted worked in the Wizarding Library in Diagon Alley, and walked past Ted and out of the house.

"You know, don't you?" Ted said when they were out the house. He held his arm out to her. She grabbed onto it. He'd phrased it as a question but his tone made it more of a resigned statement.

"Right-o, Ted. Well spotted," said Ascella, her tone pure acid.

Then she felt the usual tugging at her navel, followed by the squeezing sensation that indicated they were apparating away. Landing in an overcast London, Ascella quickly dropped Ted's arm.

"Now there is no need for that attitude," Ted informed her as they walked toward the Leaky Cauldron and the entrance to Diagon Alley, his eyes searching left and right and around as if expecting Sirius Black to pop out at them in the middle of muggle London. Ascella rolled her eyes. "We only found out yesterday. We - we wanted to tell you." He held the door open for her, ushering her into the dark safety of the pub. "We just didn't know how. We didn't want to scare you or alarm you in any way."

" _Scare_ me? I'm not scared," she said, shaking her hair, her loose waves dancing with the motion, choosing to pretend the dream she'd had didn't mean anything. "I'm angry." At least she could say that with full truth. "And not just at him. At you. You shouldn't have tried to hid it from me. I'm not a child anymore."

Ted looked down at her. That it wasn't as far down as in previous years, only seemed to emphasize Ascella's point. Ascella had always been tall, but she had soared up in recent months and was now nearing five foot seven. Right now she was aware she looked a bit stretched out, but Ascella had also begun to notice her jeans weren't fitting the same, not to mention her bras and Quidditch T-shirts weren't either, as other parts of her body had begun growing as well. She'd had to raid Dora's closet the other day, after she'd failed to get her once favorite pair of jeans over her hips. Even Dora's jeans had only helped a little, tall and slim as she was with narrower hips. Ascella made due with some illegal out of school magic to help stretch the jeans. She'd been more than thrilled when she'd learned the Ministry couldn't actually track underage magic outside of school, only instances of magic. She also knew though, that Meda would do her knut if she found Ascella with her wand out so she tended to leave her rule breaking to a minimum.

Now though, Ted was looking down at her like he was remembering when she hadn't been so tall, when she came rushing to him after a nightmare where she'd cling to him as he rubbed her back until she calmed, and wishing she was still that little girl that he could protect. Ascella felt a lump form in her throat, cutting through her anger and she had to look away. To cover her reaction she moved off. Ted sighed and followed her through the pub, to the brick wall that led to Diagon Alley.

Ascella waited for Ted to pull his wand out and tap the bricks in the correct order. As the bricks rearranged themselves Ted spoke.

"You're right," he said, his voice soft and sounding so very sad and drained. "We can't protect you from him forever, no matter how much we want to try. Since you already know he's escaped I expect you have questions?" Ascella nodded. She always had questions; Ted knew her well. He nodded. "Alright well lay them on me. I'll answer if I know."

"Why? Why now? What's he doing? How did he get out? I just don't understand," Ascella said the questions spilling forth like a tidal wave as they moved out into the alley, not nearly as crowded at this time of day so late into the morning was it, most people already at work. These questions were just the tip of her iceberg of her questions though, the deeper ones, the ones that had haunted her ever since she'd learned about her father bubbling under the surface, questions like why was he a Deatheater, what had driven him to be so evil and the most worrying of all, was she like him? Did she have a propensity for evil too?

"As to the how, no one knows," Ted answered her. "Dora said the Aurors are completely flabbergasted. Prisoners aren't allowed wands, or access to anything magical and on top of that Black was one of their highest security prisoners. And the why? Equally confused. People go mad in Azkaban, he could be out to do anything. Some think he could be trying to meet up with Voldemort again. Others think his motives are more concrete, that he wants to finish what his master failed to do." Ted trailed off here with a significant look at Ascella.

She felt her heart grow cold. "Harry," she breathed. Ted nodded. No one knew why the Dark Lord had targeted a child but that that child had lived and brought about the downfall of that same man, no one doubted. Any true follower would be angry and it was said Black was the closest of Voldemort's followers; it make sense he was out for revenge.

They were almost at the Library, a large marble building tucked behind Gringotts, when Ascella furrowed her eyebrows and asked,"If most people are so worried about Harry, then why don't you and Meda want me to be alone?"

Ted sighed and held the door to the library open. Even the comforting smells of the books couldn't help take the tension out of the air at their conversation.

"I know you don't want to hear this but whatever Black became, there is and was never any doubt that he loved you, Ascella." Ascella scoffed. If you asked her the love of a madman wasn't worth much. "And we - Meda, Dora, and I - wouldn't be that surprised if he were to come looking for you."

"What? Like to kidnap me?" she said as they pushed into the back area where the offices were and where government documents were kept for the Ministry. Ted worked in the main area, where the books were kept, but was also in charge of record keeping.

"Perhaps, or even just try to see you," Ted said, magicing a key from his pocket into his hand and using it to open his office door. "I can't say whether he'd try to hurt you. Once I would never have suspected that were possible but having loved you or not he has spent the last 12 years in the wizarding worlds darkest prison. We'd just feel better if you were close."

"Fine," Ascella conceded, crossing her arms.

"Thank you love," Ted said kissing her swiftly on the top of the head. Ascella shrugged him off, but she was secretly pleased.

"Am I at least allowed to wander the library?"

"Of course. Just stay close. I have a meeting all morning in the Bagshot office just down the hall. If you need anything don't be afraid of interrupting."

Ascella nodded but she was already wandering away, her eyes fixed on the sight of books in front of her. After an hour or so of reading from her favorite fiction novel, a story about the adventures of a wizard boy in muggle America during the American Revolutionary War, she put the book down, finding even the distraction of a good novel not enough to curb her racing mind. The only thing that ever could really distract her when she was like this was research of some sort, so putting the book back on the shelf she made her way back to where the Ministry records were kept. She wandered their dusty halls for a bit until she found herself in the marriage registry of all places.

Grinning, she decided it might be fun to find Meda and Ted's wedding date, or even to find the exact date of Harry's parents wedding, knowing he didn't know it. Meda and Ted were easy; they were married in the fall two years before Dora was born in '78. Harry's parents weren't as easy. She suspected they'd gotten married before Harry was conceived, and some time after they'd left school, which put the time range to some time between summer '78 and fall '79. She pulled the books dedicated to that time frame out and sat herself on the warn wood floor, hidden within the stacks, the musty smell of old books and the sound of her flipping pages her only companions.

Ascella figured that they'd in all likelihood gotten married closer to fall of '79 but she decided to start her search beginning when they left Hogwarts. Sure enough they weren't in the first book she'd grabbed that documented wizarding marriages for the summer and into the fall of '79. She opened the second book and hadn't made it halfway through before she stopped her mind unbelieving of what her eyes saw. Then, she felt rage bubble up within her. Next thing she knew she was marching with the open book clasped between two hands out of the stacks and down the hall to where Ted's meeting was taking place.

Uncaring of the consequences, she threw open the door and marched up to a very stunned Ted, his mouth and those of a lot of others in the room, hanging open as she slammed the book down onto the table in front of him, the thin legs of the table wobbling.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded. Ted's jaw flapped open and closed as he tried to comprehend what was going on.

"Ascella - What - what are you talking about?" he finally managed to get out.

"That!" Ascella stabbed at an entry on the page of the open book with her finger.

Ted leaned forward, adjusting his glasses, and read the same thing she'd just read. Written in curly script were the words ' _On this day, December 21st, 1978, Marlene Marie McKinnon and Sirius Orion Black married. Wedding witnessed and officiated by bride's brother, Mason Micheal McKinnon'._ His face paled as he read it once, twice, and once more. Then he took his glasses off and muttered, "But no - it can't be..." he looked up at Ascella then. "Ascella, I - I didn't know. Neither of us did. We thought you were the only secret he kept." He meaning her father. He'd turned up with her, an almost two year old girl, on Meda and Ted's door the night her mother had been killed, shocking them; she'd heard that story enough to know it for truth.

Ascella sighed, her anger deflating. She believed him. She just couldn't believe this was true. It just didn't make sense. In a lot of ways Ascella could better handle that her mother had merely been stupid, fallen for a pretty face and gotten knocked up. But this, this changed things. This meant her parents had, dare she think it, _loved_ each other. And it wasn't a shotgun wedding either, Ascella's brain had already done the math, even if she had been conceived exactly nine months before her birth than her mother would have only been two weeks pregnant at the time of the wedding and that was still too early along to know she was with child before the wedding, even with magic.

But how could her mother, that kind woman in all the photos Harry had gotten for her last year, that woman that was so close with Professor Flitwick, how could that woman have _loved_ a murderer? Ascella felt her eyes begin to burn. She looked down at her feet.

"Can you take me home?" she asked, voice smaller than she wanted to admit. She refused to cry, she wouldn't, but she had to get out of here to ensure that.

Ted reached for her. She jerked back, before his hand met her arm. Ted sighed then, his hand falling and nodded.

"Yes, I'll take you home. Wait for me in my office. I'll just finish this up," he said his voice kind. Ted was always kind. Giving and kind; he was a good match for Meda and Ascella, who preferred to keep people at a distance and who came off as cold more often than not. But right now his kindness was contrary to what Ascella wanted to be feeling; she wanted to still be angry but if she let Ted's kindness touch her she knew she'd start crying and that was the last thing she wanted.

So she turned and left, blindly making for Ted's office. She didn't remember much of the rest of the day, just that she'd locked herself away in her room, trying to ignore the hushed words downstairs where Ted was no doubt explaining to Meda what they'd found.

And her room was where she stayed for most of the next week, ignoring Meda's demands and Ted's entreaties that she come join them at meals. Even Dora couldn't get her to come out. Ascella was mad at the world and she didn't need the lot of them. She snuck down to the kitchen to grab food when Ted was at work and Meda in the garden, before retreating back to her hovel. After awhile even Esmerelda was starting to look at her with a judging look on the white and brown barn owl's face.

"Oh shut it," Ascella had said to her after the two had had a long staring contest in the middle of the night, a silent conversation passing between them that went something like ' _Why are you still in here?', '_ _Because I can be._ ', ' _Great way to deal with your problems.' , '_ _What do you know? You're a ruddy bird._ ' , ' _At least I'm not the one having an imaginary conversation with a creature that can't speak.'_ followed by Ascella breaking eye contact and telling her owl to shut it, which had only made her feel more crazy.

Even though she had resorted to imagined conversations with her owl she still didn't emerge until just over a week into August when she received word from Harry that he'd blown up his aunt (literally blown up, like a balloon, Ascella was more than a little impressed, not to mention proud) and had run away to Diagon Alley where he would be staying until school started up.

Ascella had then practically flown down to the kitchen, letter in hand, and demanded she be allowed to visit her best friend. What had followed was a tense and guilt ridden (on Ted's side and even a little bit on Meda's too if Ascella was really willing to admit it, which she wasn't) conversation about how it wasn't safe.

"But Harry's there! _He's_ there and he's the one everyone is actually worried Black is out to get, not me. _He_ gets to wander about unsupervised. Why can't I visit?"

"Oh Ascella, you don't honestly think Harry isn't being watched every minute, do you?" Meda scoffed. Ascella deflated as Meda's words sunk in. Of course they would be watching her friend like a hawk. He was the Boy Who Lived after all.

"Ugh," Ascella rolled her eyes and turned from the room, knowing she'd lost. "Adults suck!" she called from the stairs, stomping her way back up to her den of a room. She slammed her door for good measure too.

Meda and Ted must have talked though because later that night he came up to her room and told her that later in a couple weeks he'd take her to see her friend _and_ he promised he wouldn't follow them around. It wasn't much but Ascella still threw her arms around him in a hug.

Ascella next emerged from her room (she wasn't about to stop hating the world so easily just because she'd get to see her best friend finally, no not until she got to start hating it with him then maybe she'd feel better) when Meda called her down saying that Kevin was there to see her, two weeks into August.

She'd yelped at this news and stumbled out of her bed falling to the floor with a loud thud, in her haste to get to her mirror to check her hair. Upon finally reaching it she was dismayed to see how greasy her hair was, when _was_ the last time she'd showered, she really couldn't remember. She decided a ponytail would have to do since Meda had locked her wand away after she'd caught her trying out a spell a week ago and thus she wouldn't be able to clean her hair with a quick spell. Then she pulled on one of the pairs of jeans she'd stolen from Dora and checked the mirror one last time, before shrugging and bounding down the stairs.

Her friend greeted her with a big grin. Ascella almost tripped down the last step. Somehow in the two weeks since she'd last seen him he'd gotten even taller and, dare she think it, _cuter_. Her heart was definitely racing now and it had nothing to do with her rush to get downstairs.

"Right, well I'll leave you to it," Meda said, looking at Ascella with a knowing smirk. "Just don't leave the grounds!" she called the warning over her shoulder as she went back into the kitchen to start dinner. Ascella rolled her eyes when Kevin looked at her a question in his at Meda's words.

"C'mon," she grabbed his hand and dragged him behind her. "I'll tell you out here."

She dropped his hand when they got outside, blushing, when she realized the implication of it. She covered it by asking a question instead.

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"Well, I've been back from Aaron's almost two days now and you haven't been to visit yet. I even wrote you but you didn't write back."

"Oh," she said. "Sorry, I've not been feeling myself." She had a stack of unread and unopened letters on her desk. If they weren't from Harry she hadn't been bothering.

"Tell me about it. You look like you haven't showered for a week." Ascella shoved him, as the walked side by side through Meda's garden. He sent her a side smirk to show her he wasn't serious though. "Come on though. Tell me what's up. Meda said you hadn't left your room in weeks."

"Of course she did," Ascella said, refusing to meet Kevin's eyes. She stopped at a stone bench under a maple tree, near the forest at the edge of the property.

"Want to sit?" she asked. Kevin nodded and they sat then.

Ascella took a moment to gather her thoughts before she sighed deeply and not looking at her friend explained in halting sentences about her father. She gave Kevin all the details as he was muggleborn and didn't already know. She explained about how she'd always just thought her mum had gotten knocked up by the pretty boy before any of them knew better, knew about his dark side, how her father was a murderer and all around evil man, how she felt so betrayed that they'd actually been married. It felt almost cathartic to talk to Kevin about this. It also helped that one of the villages many stray dogs that wandered about the village and usually to Ascella's cottage as she was a sucker and always gave them treats, had found her about halfway through her tale. He was a big black dog, with more matted fur than the others and with an intelligent look in its eyes but nonetheless it was a comfort for her to pet the big animal while she spoke. His head ended up in her lap at some point and he made a particularly mournful snuffle when she got angry talking about how she hated her father, that it was his fault her mother had died. She continued to talk to Kevin, explaining how while she'd always felt this way it had only gotten worse now that her father had escaped. Now she had her every move monitored and she felt trapped. Her father had clearly never cared and just because he'd broken out didn't mean he'd start trying to be a father.

"Not that I'd want him anyway," she finished with a sneer. The dog in her lap sank even lower. "What's with you?" she cooed, ruffling its ears. "You seem more sad than I am." The dog wagged its tail halfheartedly.

Kevin's response was to whistle.

"And I thought my parents were bad," he said.

Ascella looked at him miserably, but found Kevin's face sympathetic and not matching his throw away tone.

"No but seriously 'Cella," he said. "That's rough. If you need anything just let me know."

"Thanks. Now enough of this serious stuff. I'm finally outside and it's a beautiful day," she said rising. "Wanna play fetch?" she asked the dog. The dog barked and began wagging its tail furiously. They, Kevin, Ascella and the stray, spent the rest of the afternoon playing fetch and running about in the sunshine, for the first time in weeks her father the farthest thing from her mind. Little did she know that she hadn't been closer to him in years than she was just then.

* * *

 **a/n: well I hope that was worth the wait! thanks to my reviewers and readers. you are awesome :) Let me know what you think if you feel inclined. I'm really excited for you guys to see what's going to happen this year. This is also the year where we start deviating the most from canon. the shell of the story will still be there but you couldn't expect it to stay the same forever :) Oh and yes the dog is Sirius. He would have been traveling north at this point after having scared Harry into the Knight Bus and so I've decided Ascella's cottage is somewhere along his journey.**


	23. Chapter 23

**disclaimer: JK rowling owns and I make no claims on this**

 **a/n: Enjoy**

* * *

 **September 1st, 1993**

"Meda! I'll be fine!" Ascella stood with Meda and Ted on platform nine and three-quarters trying and failing to throw off the ministrations of her overprotective guardians. She had just about had it with them over the past month and couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts, even if it meant the beginning of more school work at least it would be a break from all the concerned looks thrown her way when they didn't think she was looking.

They had finally let her go see Harry, about a week ago now. Ted had even offered to pick up all her new school things while he let them wander about alone. If he'd followed them around Ascella hadn't seen him. She remembered that day fondly now, the first day she'd felt like she could breath since her father's escape, that is until Harry brought it up while they were eating ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Ascella had taken too big of a bite in her surprise, the warm day suddenly feeling cold, only for this to turn into a raging brain freeze. While uncomfortable the brain freeze had at the very least distracted Harry from talking about Black, so she supposed it was a win.

She still hadn't told Harry about Black being her father and she really didn't know why; it just sort of seemed too late now. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware that was an excuse, and a bad one at that, but why ruin the ease and companionableness of the nice day with such dark thoughts and discussions. Or at least that's what she told herself, when really she just didn't want him to know.

"We know Ascella," Ted said pulling her in for one more hug. Ascella grudgingly dealt with it. She might have even returned the hug if it wasn't the hundredth one in the last hour. They'd already put her trunk on the train and Ascella had begun straining over the crowd for a glimpse of her friends. Finding a slew of bright red hair she kissed Meda and Ted one last time and told them she was off. They watched her weave through the crowd, Ted with his arm around Meda and then they disapparated upon their charges arrival with the Weasley's.

"Well if it isn't my favorite family of red heads ever?" Ascella said merging with the group and throwing an arm around Ron and another around Ginny, a smirk on her face.

Ron grinned down at her.

"'Lo Cella. Good summer?" Ascella shrugged.

"Can't complain. How was Egypt?" she asked, moving the conversation away from her. The less her summer, and how it related to her father's escape, was alluded to the happier she'd be. Luckily, she'd chosen a good topic as Ron went off on how amazing the trip had been. Apparently the only bad part had been Scabbers getting sick afterwards.

He was interrupted though by the twins, who came over to chat.

"Oh Ronald, still telling anyone who'll listen about Egypt, eh?" said Fred.

"Honestly, when will you learn people are only listening to be polite now?" George added.

Ron flushed and stopped talking. The twins caught sight of Ascella then where they both promptly did a double take, before grinning appreciatively.

"Looking good Black," Fred leered.

"Very good," George agreed.

Ascella shifted her weight, suddenly wishing she'd asked Meda for new shirts as well as the trousers and underthings she'd finally broken down and asked for, more aware than before of the way her T-shirt stretched across her chest now.

She still managed to cross her arms and glare at the twins in response though.

"Shove off," she said to cover her embarrassment. "Don't you two have girlfriends you can ogle instead?"

"Nope," Fred shoved George out of his way to come up closer to her. "Only George here, but _I_ am very much single." Ascella curled her lip.

"Charming," she said. "So if I told a certain dark haired Gryffindor Chaser you were hitting on your younger brother's mate, that wouldn't be a problem?"

Fred's face went pale and he backed off looking mildly horrified. George sniggered. Then even Fred grinned.

"Touche Miss Black," he quipped. "You win this round." Then he turned to Ron. "You could learn something from your friend about comebacks, dear Ronnekins."

Ron said some very choice words that only made the twins laugh, before they wandered off to join the rest of their friends. Ascella looked around then realizing who was missing.

"Say, where're Harry and Hermione?" But not a moment after she asked did her bushy haired friend appear from the crowd, breathing heavily and dragging her trunk along.

"Here!" she said. Ascella smiled wide and pulled her friend into a hug. Hermione returned it with one arm, the other occupied by a rather large basket. Ascella narrowed her eyes when she pulled back, surveying the basket with suspicion.

"'Mione? What's in the basket?" she asked the girl.

It was Ron who answered though.

"Hermione got a _cat_ ," he all but sneered, a hand going protectively to his breast pocket where Scabbers snoozed.

"Oh you didn't?" Ascella groaned. "A cat? Really?"

Hermione bristled at them.

"Yes. A _cat_ ," she sniffed. "And I happen to think he's quite something. Now we'd best get on the train before it's too late." And turning smartly on her heel she marched off with her nose in the air.

"Yeah, something ugly," Ron muttered under his breath to Ascella as they followed along. Ascella let out a shout of laughter that she tried to turn into a cough when Hermione shot a death glare at her over her shoulder.

"Hang on, where _is_ Harry?" Ascella asked again as they boarded the train.

"Yes, where is he? He can't miss the train two years in a row," Hermione worried, biting her lip and looking over the platform with the other two.

Ron turned too to look, his brow furrowed.

"He was with my dad - Look! There he comes now!" he pointed and sure enough Harry was rushing toward them. He managed to grab Ron's arm, who yanked him on just as the train began to move.

"Always making an entrance, eh Potter?" Ascella grinned at her out-of-breath best friend.

He grinned back at her, shoving his hair out of his face with one hand, bent almost double as he caught his breath.

"You know me, 'Cella," he replied, before hugging her.

"Ew!" she gripped, only half-serious. "You're all sweaty."

"Come off it," he said, knowing he wasn't really all that bad.

Hermione rolled her eyes at them.

"Come on," she said. "Let's find a carriage before they are all full."

Turned out they already were full. Well all except the very last one, that was occupied by only a single rather shabbily dressed man, who also happened to be fast asleep.

Ascella, Ron and Harry looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed past them, opening the carriage doors.

"Come on. Everywhere else is full." They looked at each other again before shrugging and following Hermione into the carriage.

They settled their stuff in quietly before taking seats and looking ask hence at the man.

"Who do you suppose he is?" Ascella whispered. He had sandy brown hair and the look of a young man who his aged beyond his years, his hair already graying in places, wrinkled lining his face in places.

"Professor R.J. Lupin," Hermione stated primly. "Our new Defense teacher most likely."

The others looked at her their mouths dropping open.

"How the hell do you know that?" Ron asked.

"It's on the suitcase," she pointed above them to the luggage rack above his head.

"Oh."

"Well either way doesn't look like he'll be waking up any time soon," Ascella said turning to Harry. "So, what did Mr. Weasley want to tell you?"

"Oh yeah," Harry brightened before he leaned in and told them about how Mr. weasley wanted to tell Harry about the Ministry's suspicion about Black and how he was after Harry. Ascella felt all the blood drain from her face as soon as Harry mentioned Black. She tried to sink back into the seat back behind her as if she wanted to disappear there. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to walk right into opening this conversation. And she'd been doing so well avoiding these talks thus far too.

When he finished Ron and Hermione began questioning him and stayed engaged in the conversation but Ascella pointedly avoided all eye contact with any of them and remained silent, playing instead with a hole in her jeans.

"Ascella?" Hermione finally asked, noticing her silence. "Are you alright?"

Ascella looked up, her eyes wide. "Oh. Yes," she said, ignoring Harry's concerned look and only looking at Hermione. "You know actually, I think - er - that I'm going to go find some of the Ravenclaw's," she said rising, suddenly feeling like this compartment was stifling.

And without waiting for any of their responses she walked out the door. In a daze she walked down the corridor until she spotted Kevin and Aaron in a compartment with Kevin's younger sister and Aaron's older brother and his friends.

Kevin, she thought. That's what she needed, her friend from the summer who knew her secret. So she forced a grin on her face and opened the door.

Aaron saw her first. With a roar he rushed her and tackled her in a hug.

"Ascella!" he said. Then he drew back and looked at her. "You look -" he swallowed a blush grazing his fair skin. "-different." he mumbled.

"Smooth Romeo," his brother hooted at him, while his friends laughed. Aaron turned and sent a rude hand gesture at his brother. Ascella rolled her eyes and turned to Kevin.

He had a ready smile for her and it was Ascella's turn to blush and duck her head.

"Didn't expect to see you," he said, no doubt referring to how she usually spent the train rides with Harry and the rest of her Gryffindor friends, but sounding pleased he had.

"Yeah well, here I am," she said, with a shrug. Kevin appeared to recognize her tone though and looked to be about to question her further about it when he was interrupted by Aaron loudly drawing attention back to him and the others and away from the relatively peaceful corner by the door where Kevin, she and his sister sat.

"Oy! Kev, tell my brother and his friends what you told me. About how come you are so tall!"

Kevin spared Ascella a single look as if 'what are you going to do' before explaining his dad was well over 6 foot.

"Yeah but your mum is like the _tiniest_ Korean lady I've ever seen!" Aaron protested.

"You're just jealous you are still so short," Kevin came back easily. All the others in the car laughed at Aaron.

The joking around and general mucking about continued, the compartment a general place of merriment, but it did not leave any room for Ascella to get to chat with Kevin. She wanted to talk about anything that wasn't her father, even if it was to ask Kevin how he and his sister were doing; his mum had officially left his dad at the end of August and there were talks that she might have to undergo a memory charm if she didn't agree to keep to the laws of The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.

It also didn't help that anytime she was about to talk to Kevin or even to his sister who looked slightly alarmed at being there and was clinging to her brother's side, then Aaron inevitably tried to draw her attention back to the rest of the group and Kevin let him. She also couldn't understand why the older boys kept shooting glances at her and whispering to each other.

She was sure she recognized one of them as Roger Davies, the new Quidditch Captain of the Ravenclaw team and while she might have ordinarily wanted to shoot the shit with everyone, this wasn't what she'd been looking for so around one she excused herself to Kevin and fled the compartment before any of the others could call her back.

Still not wanting to head back to Harry and be questioned about why she'd left there so abruptly she turned instead to search for her other Ravenclaw friends. She was sure Terry would be nose deep in some book or other and it might be nice to join him. It was as she was peering into compartments and in general not watching where she was going that she ran smack into the chest of a tall fifth year.

"Oof," she said falling back a step. Two hands reached out and steadied her.

"Sorry! Are you alright?" the boy asked, his voice sounding genuinely concerned.

"Well I was 'til I ran into you. Why don't you watch where you are going?" she asked hotly, rubbing her head not caring that it was more than likely her fault.

The boy chuckled.

"I think _you_ actually ran into _me_ ," he said, bemusement evident in his tone.

"Whatever," she waved him off and moved on not even glancing up to see who she'd bumped into. She figured it had to be a Hufflepuff, no one else would've been so nice about it. And Hufflepuffs were boring so she moved on. In doing so she didn't notice the small perplexed smile on the boy's face as he watched her walk away, before he shook his head and reentered his compartment.

Ascella found her other Ravenclaw friends, Padma Patil and Terry Boot, in a compartment with Micheal Corner and Anthony Goldstein. Ascella couldn't help but smile seeing her prediction about Terry had held true, his favorite novel open before him.

Ascella's entrance was greeted with surprise and pleasant delight on Padma and Terry's sides, while Corner and Goldstein only stared at her. Ascella ignored them and curled up next to Boot putting her head on his shoulder so she could read his book with him.

Padma at first had wanted to talk about her trip to India but seeing her friend curled up so she could only smile and fall silent, instead continuing to talk with the other two boys.

"Do you want me to start over?" Terry asked Ascella, his voice loud enough so only she could hear, his cheeks a faint pink in color.

"No," said Ascella. "I love this part." She'd read the book the previous year at his recommendation and had been surprisingly delighted by it.

Ascella spent the remainder of the afternoon lost in a silent fictional world with a good friend, not noticing the time passing, the trolley lady stopping by and certainly not that it had begun to rain heavily outside, looking almost as dark as night out. She probably wouldn't even have noticed the slowing of the train if it hadn't been for Terry, who'd jerked his head up startling her as the train slowed.

"We can't be there already?" he asked the others, his book falling closed.

The rest shrugged and shook their heads, eyes wide. Corner and Goldstein made to try and see out the window while Padma looked at her watch.

"No, we shouldn't arrive for another 40 minutes at least," she confirmed for them.

That was when the lights went out. Ascella swore. Then came the cold. An icy chill that swept over her like she'd just dove headfirst into the Great Lake in the dead of winter. Ascella had never felt so frigid in her entire life. She tried to snuggle closer to Terry but whatever cold was over her must have been over him too because he wasn't any warmer.

Then the door opened, a slimy gray hand poking out of a black cloak and a rattling noise coming from the depths of its hood. Ascella felt all hope get sucked out at it and then her world went black.

 _"NO!" a man howled. "Mack, no, no no," the same voice sounded again muffled now, voice raw with emotion. "I'm so sorry Mack. It's all my fault. My fault. Mack -"_

"Ascella!" Someone was shaking her. "Ascella!"

"No, no, no," she mumbled until her eyes snapped open. She found herself on the floor with four pairs of eyes looking down on her, a varying mix of concern and fear on all of their faces. Ascella dimly noticed that the lights were back on.

"Wha - what happened?" she asked as Padma and Terry helped her up.

"Well that - that _thing_ ," Padma started with a shudder.

"Dementor," Goldstein supplied.

"Right _that_ , well it came in here and you sorta - well," she glanced awkwardly to Terry.

"You passed out Ascella. And started saying no over and over," Terry finished. Ascella felt shaky.

"None of you lot passed out then?" she asked. They all shook their heads no. Ascella felt her cheeks warm.

Then she remembered what she knew about Dementors. They made you relive your worst memory and if she'd passed out at whatever the hell memory she'd just had then she knew someone who had one way worse.

"I'm sorry. I have to go," she said before rushing out of the compartment, only one thought driving her, _get to Harry_.

Her legs were shaky and weak but she made it back to the compartment in record time. She flung open the door startling everyone in the compartment, dully noting it was more full than she'd remembered upon leaving it, Ginny and was that Longbottom, having joined them, but she had eyes for only Harry. One look at his pale face and dazed green eyes and she knew; he'd passed out too and had most likely heard something related to the death of his parents. She squeezed in beside him and enveloped him in a hug, taking as much comfort as she hoped she gave.

"I passed out 'Cells," he mumbled to her.

"I know. It's okay. I did too," she said.

"You did?" he asked hopeful.

"Yeah. Don't sound so enthused about it," she replied darkly. "Not like it was pleasant or anything."

"No - I didn't mean-" he tried to backpedal. "It's just no one else did."

Ascella was about to respond when the door was opened again and Ascella found herself meeting the warm brown eyes with the man that had once been asleep in this compartment.

He started and hesitated before breaking eye contact with her and looked around at the others a warm smile on his face making him look years younger.

"I haven't poisoned it," he said. "Eat up. It'll make you feel better. We should be at the castle soon." That was when Ascella noticed everyone else in the room had hunks of Honeydukes chocolate.

"Oy, where'd you lot get that?" she asked. She wanted some chocolate. After the day she'd had she thought she deserved some.

Lupin broke off a piece from a bar her had and handed it to her. She blushed and mumbled a thank you, she hadn't meant to sound so demanding.

"And you must be Ascella," Lupin said.

"Er - yes," Ascella said through a mouthful of chocolate, that was surprisingly making her feel better, driving away the cold she still felt. "How did you know?"

"Harry, here was very concerned about his missing friend when the dementors came aboard." Ascella turned to her friend.

"Aw. You really do care!"

To her surprise Harry didn't rise to her teasing.

"'Course I do 'Cella," he said taking another bit of his chocolate. "Those things were - " he paused a dark look crossing his face.

"Horrible. I know," she said curling in closer. She wanted to ask what he'd heard but a part of her didn't want to because she didn't want to relive what she'd heard either. Instead she asked Lupin why the dementors came aboard.

To his credit the man only glanced once at Harry when he explained that they were stationed to protect the school and had most likely been searching the train for Sirius Black. She gave him more credit too, for looking her in the eye when he said it. He knew, knew who's child sat before him and he didn't seem to care. It was this uncaring that made it easy for her to maintain eye contact and nod before she looked away.

They changed into their robes shortly after and then not soon enough for Ascella's taste they were arriving at the station in Hogsmeade.

They were met at the castle doors as they departed from their carriage by the drawling voice of non-other than Draco Malfoy.

"What a way to start the year," Ascella muttered as Draco mocked Harry for fainting at the dementors. Ascella supposed she was lucky he hadn't heard about her, then again he never had found as much joy in mocking her as he did her Gryffindor friends. Ascella figured it was cause he didn't have anything on her and knew she wouldn't fall as easily to his goading; Ascella just couldn't be bothered.

"Shove _off_ , Malfoy," Ascella defended her friend glaring hard at her cousin or whatever he was in relation to her. "I saw you," she added though she hadn't, merely hoping she'd get lucky just by guessing. "Quivering like a small child. Looked like you were about to wet your pants."

Malfoy flushed, letting Ascella know that she hadn't been far off on her guess, and had opened his mouth to respond when they were interrupted by Professor Lupin who had just gotten out of the carriage behind them.

"Merlin, I hate that guy," Ascella said to Harry and the others referring to Malfoy, as the boys nodded in agreement. In the Entrance Hall as they made their way to the Great Hall Professor McGonagall called out above the crowd for Harry and Hermione. Ascella looked at her friend, a question in her eyes, but he only shrugged and went off with Hermione. Ron stared after them before Ascella tugged him along.

Ascella left Ron at the Ravenclaw table as she caught sight of Padma and Terry's worried expressions. She sighed realizing they probably wanted some explanation so she moved off to join them, telling Ron she'd meet up with him later. He nodded and moved off to sit with the twins and their friends at the Gryffindor table while Ascella peeled off at the second table and sat with her friends at the Ravenclaw.

No sooner than Ascella sat down before, "Ascella. Are you okay?" from Padma and "'Cella! You alright?" from Terry. She held in her rolled eyes but just barely.

"Yes. Just needed to find Harry. He passed out too," she said the last lowly. They blinked then understanding flooded their eyes.

"Oh, that poor boy," Padma said.

"You don't think - his _parents_ ," Terry asked. Ascella felt a wave of gratitude for her friends. Leave it to the Ravenclaws to immediately understand what must have happened to Harry.

"I can't think of what else it could be," Ascella said. "Look don't go spreading that around though." She looked hard at them both.

"No. Never," they said together shaking their heads emphatically. Ascella smiled. She felt she could count on them to keep that secret and if they couldn't, well then they'd find out just how bad it could be for them for betraying Ascella Black's trust; she knew where they slept.

The sorting was boring as usual, the hat singing another silly song. She almost envied Harry for getting to miss it. She'd spotted him walk in with Hermione just after. He smiled at her before they moved on to join Ron at the Gryffindor table.

Then came the announcements, which were also just as snooze worthy in Ascella's mind except for Hagrid getting announced as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher. While Ascella had cheered just as loudly as the rest, she couldn't help but also be glad she wasn't taking that course. She'd heard all about the monster of a book Harry and the others had had to get for the class. No thank you.

After the meal Ascella was quite thoroughly stuffed and actually looking forward to falling asleep in her four post bed back in Ravenclaw. Alas she was rudely drawn out of her happy state at the sound of Malfoy speaking loudly from the table behind as she and the rest of her Ravenclaw friends rose to leave.

"Can you _imagine_ what an _embarrassment_ it would be having a father like that?" he laughed to his friends. Ascella just had a feeling he was talking about her father, her gray eyes locking on his nasty pointed little face. "I mean _really_ ," here he caught eyes with her, his evil little smile growing and Ascella knew for sure he was talking about her father. "He's completely insane. You know what they say too, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"If you are going to talk about my dad Malfoy, why don't you say it to my face!" Ascella called across the crowd. Her friends and the others around them fell silent looking worriedly between the two.

"Oh, but it's so much more fun this way. Say, how much poking do you think it'll take before she goes as insane as her old man, _Sirius_ _Black_ ," Malfoy called loudly, drawing even more attention to them, students even going so far as to stop and stare.

Ascella lunged for him but Kevin and Aaron, seeming to come out of nowhere, grabbed onto her, one on each side, stopping her.

She struggled against them while Malfoy hid between Crabbe and Goyle.

It was at this point that Harry came over, having seen the commotion.

"What's going on?" he asked, eyes darting between Ascella and Malfoy.

Ascella was too busy glaring at the back of Malfoy's head as he moved off with the rest of the Slytherins to answer. When he was out of sight she threw off Aaron and Kevin. Harry looked instead at her friends for an explanation.

"He said something about her dad," Aaron supplied. Ascella glared at him but he ignored it.

"Her dad?" Harry narrowed his eyes, confused.

Aaron was confused too but for a different reason, but it was Kevin that answered.

"Yeah. You know, Sirius Black."

Harry closed off then.

"Oh, right. 'Course."

Great, Ascella thought before humping and marching away from them. She didn't get far before Harry caught up with her.

"I don't want to talk about it Harry."

Harry ignored her and grabbed her arm spinning her around. They were in a random corridor on the third floor and far away from anyone else. If she wasn't so angry she might have been mildly impressed at how far she'd gotten in such a short time frame.

"Come on 'Cells," he started.

"I _said_ I don't want to talk about it!" she snapped back at him, sounding more defiant than she felt. Harry's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Well too bad! We're going to! And how about you start with the fact that you failed to mention, in nearly three years of friendship I might add, that Black was your _father_! I thought we told each other everything, Ascella!"

"It just didn't come up," Ascella mumbled.

"Didn't come up?!" Harry exploded, his arms waving with his anger. "Didn't come up! It's come up plenty!

"Well would you have wanted to?" she exploded back, meeting his furious gaze. "Would you want to tell people that your dad was a raving mass murdering lunatic?" Harry was silent. "Yeah, that's what I thought." Ascella turned on her heel but Harry caught her arm again, stopping her.

"'Cella," he said softly, his voice betraying how hurt he was. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Ascella deflated. She knew she'd been unfair. She sniffed and turned back around. When she answered she spoke to a brick over Harry's shoulder instead of looking him in the eye.

"It's just people that know, judge me enough for it. I didn't need you looking at me any differently because you knew too. Especially if you looked at me with pity."

Harry's head fell back dramatically.

"Come on 'Cells. You know I'd never," he vowed.

"I know," she said her voice small. "It was stupid I guess."

"Very. Honestly though, I probably should have asked sooner. I guess I just assumed your dad was dead too, like your mum." He paused then. "And now I sound like a complete git... sorry that was so blunt."

"Don't worry about it. You don't know how often I've wished that he was dead too. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"It's s'okay," Harry shrugged before grinning. "Just no more secrets okay? _I'm_ your best mate, I should already know all this stuff. You made me look a right prat back there."

Ascella giggled.

"The look on your face was rather funny!"

Harry rolled his eyes, but he was smiling too. She told him then that she thought she'd give Ravenclaw a try for the night. He gave her a hug goodnight and told her the password to Gryffndor "Fortuna Major" for when she inevitably did get locked out at some point.

Ascella made her way slowly to her tower, utterly exhausted now. She was surprised at how easy the riddle was. Maybe the damn bird on the knocker could sense her mood.

" _Mr. Feathers has 4 daughters. Each of his daughters has a brother. How many children does Mr. Feathers have?_ "

"Five," Ascella answered. "Take that!" she added as the door swung open, a smile actually on her face. She could've sworn the bird returned hers with a smile of its own.

Ascella made her way to her dormitory, where, after she waved her wand at Turpin turning the snoring girls hair a nasty shade of puke green, she crawled into bed without even changing clothes and fell fast asleep, her sleep peaceful and dreamless for the first time in a month.

* * *

 **a/n: sorry bit of a boring chapter, mostly filler and set up for the year. Let me know if Ascella didn't come off right in this chapter though. Trying to show everyone is growing up and get across that while she draws people's attention (like Sirius always did and my version of Marlene) only a select few actually like her for her personality and of those she barely lets any of them in (she's emotionally unavailable haha)**


	24. Chapter 24

**a/n: Sorry for the wait... :( Wasn't sure I liked this chapter so I took forever posting and instead just wrote way ahead. So next updates will be faster! :) Anyways enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: nope not mine in anyway, all JK Rowling and I take so credit**

* * *

 **September 1993**

The next morning Ascella was awoken to the delightful sound of Turpin shrieking from the bathroom. Ascella started awake but when she realized what it was she smiled and lazily stretched, quite pleased with the reaction. Padma wasn't so forgiving, glaring at Ascella, sleep still in her eye as she realized the scream that had woken the whole dorm was somehow Ascella's fault. Ascella just shrugged unconcerned and made to get out of bed and get ready for the day.

She was interrupted though when Turpin came stomping back into their dorm, her face red with anger and clashing horribly with her puke green hair. Ascella managed to hold in a laugh, but only just.

"Turn it back, this instance!" Turpin demanded, marching up to Ascella, as Ascella gathered up her towel and shower potions.

"Whatever do you mean?" Ascella hedged, as she kept moving toward the showers. Turpin stamped her foot.

"You know what I mean!" she said as she pointed at her hair.

"Oh! And here I thought you'd done that on purpose!" Ascella laughed, acting relieved. Even Padma couldn't hid a grin now at the sight of Turpin's hair. "How fortunate it was an accident. Green really isn't your color."

Turpin let out a scream.

"I know it was you!" she shouted.

"Now, now, you can't prove that. Look if you are worried it was a prank then I'm sure it should wear off in a day or two," Ascella called as she entered the showers. "But I suppose it could be a week too! "Ascella smiled at the responding shriek of frustration.

She was in a decidedly less cheerful mood not an hour later down at breakfast. It became clear within seconds of entering the Great Hall that if anyone hadn't known who her father was before then they did now. The whole hall had hushed upon her entrance, before they all started whispering and pointing towards her. And it didn't take her long to guess who was responsible, a grinning Malfoy making it very clear indeed.

"Little git," Ascella muttered throwing herself down next to Harry at the Gryffindor table and glaring across the hall at Malfoy. It appeared he'd finally found her weakness and was going to exploit it for all it was worth in tormenting her.

Harry looked at him distastefully too. Malfoy was now pretending to faint for the amusement of the Slytherin's around him. Ascella felt her lip curl. To think she'd chosen to sit at the Gryffindor table to be further from the Slytherin table and the annoyance that was Draco Malfoy, only to still have to suffer from it.

"They can't honestly find that funny," she said, even as they clearly did, Crabbe, Goyle and one Pansy Parkinson laughing the loudest of them all. Ascella noticed Zabini didn't laugh but then again she couldn't recall having ever seeing him laugh, so maybe he was just a humorless bloke all 'round.

"He's been doing it all morning," Harry replied darkly.

"In between circulating nasty rumors about me and my father no doubt," Ascella added.

"Yup. By the way he tells it you're one loose screw from going loony too and ending up in Azkaban."

" _Git_ ," Ascella breathed.

They were soon after distracted by the arrival of their timetables. Ron was particularly distracted by this as he couldn't figure out how Hermione could have so many lessons a day, including ones that said they were posted for the same time slots. He accused her of having to be in two places at once and Hermione had scoffed and waved him off before asking for him to pass the marmalade. Too bad Ascella had heard the exchange and remembered Hermione being drawn away from them the previous night by McGonagall and put two and two together. She'd just wait to catch Hermione in her secret and ask about it later.

Soon her three Gryffindor friends headed off to find the Divination classroom. They left early and as Arithmacy wasn't nearly as far away Ascella went off to the Ravenclaw table to join Terry Boot who was also taking Arithmacy with her, the only one of her Ravenclaw friends in fact. They'd tried to convince Padma the previous year but she hadn't had any of it, telling them she'd be quite fine in Muggle Studies with Aaron and funnily enough Kevin, who had blindly signed up for the same courses as Aaron after he'd been revived the previous year, having missed the initial sign ups due to being petrified.

Ascella and Terry split off from their other friends on the third floor, though Ascella noted Goldstein and Corner were coming with them, and they headed to Professor Vector's classroom. Upon entering the classroom she was annoyed to see not only Turpin and Mandy (well in truth Mandy was fine) but also Malfoy and Zabini. Malfoy took the opportunity of course to throw a scathing comment her way but Turpin's now burnt orange hair, an attempt no doubt at reversing the color change Ascella had done, distracted her from Malfoy's attempt at being annoying.

"Should've just waited," Ascella all but sang to Turpin. "Improper reversals only extend the length of time it will affect you." Turpin glared and Ascella laughed. In truth Ascella didn't actually know if this was true or not but hey it was funny either way, the look on Turpin's face quite priceless. Ascella told Terry then to sit with his friends as Hermione would be along shortly. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"But - didn't she leave with Potter and Weasley for Divination?" he asked.

"Oh, she'll be here," Ascella said with confidence lounging in her chair as if she had not a care in the world. And sure enough a slightly frazzled and very much present Hermione arrived, not more than a moment later. Ascella watched her, a small grin on her face as her friend walked into the classroom, crossed it, and slid into the seat next to her, all while pointedly avoiding her gaze, instead first fiddling with a chain about her neck and then with her bag once she'd sat next to Ascella.

"So," Ascella began, tapping her fingers on the desk and surveying Hermione out of the corner of her eye, a small grin on her face. "How _was_ Divination?"

"It was awful - I mean this is my first lesson," Hermione tried and failed to cover herself.

"Please," Ascella scoffed. "It's obvious you must have a Time Turner. First," she counted out on her fingers, "your hair was still damp when you left for Divination with Harry and Ron and now it's not only dry but it's about as bushy as it is at noon, which means you've probably already been to Muggle Studies too. Second, I'm not an idiot and I know how people can seemingly be in two places at once if they have a Time Turner."

Ascella didn't need to hear Hermione's response to know she was right, she could tell by the look on Hermione's face. Ascella couldn't believe it, not only had Minnie not told her friend to narrow her elective choices down to the usual three _but_ she had gotten Hermione permission to have a Ministry Time Turner. And Ascella was dying to see it.

"Oh, I told Professor McGonagall you'd figure it out," Hermione groaned. "I just didn't think it would be so soon. How did you figure it out?"

"Well it might have taken a week or two if Ron hadn't made such a big deal at breakfast if that makes you feel better?"

"It doesn't. Stupid Ron," Hermione mumbled. "You promise you won't tell?" She met Ascella's eyes hope and worry in hers.

"Depends," Ascella said in a sing song voice, twirling a stand of her hair as if she might not keep the secret. Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"On what?"

"I want to see it."

"No," Hermione said firmly.

"Oh please 'Mione!" she begged. "Just a glance! I've only seen drawings of them in books."

"I - I can't. Professor McGonagall said no one can know. It's the conditions of my keeping it." Ascella fixed Hermione with a look.

"But I already know, and you don't want me to slip the news to Harry or even Ron-" she trailed off letting Hermione's imagination fill in the rest.

"Fine," she snapped. Ascella preened with delight. She wouldn't really have done that but Hermione didn't know that. "But not here. I'll show you later."

"I'll hold you to that," Ascella replied.

Hermione pursed her lips in a very Minnie sort of way before turning to face the front and catch up on the notes she'd missed.

Ascella herself turned her attention to the board almost too excited to pay attention but only almost, the topic of Arithmacy she'd decided this summer when she'd read ahead in the book, was going to be her new favorite subject; it was all logic based and Ascella excelled at logic.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Ascella hissed at Hermione as her friend began rushing away from her after the lesson. "We have Transfiguration together next."

"I have to catch up with Harry and Ron! Can't let them figure it out too!" was her reply and then she was gone.

"What was that all about?" Terry asked.

"Believe me, you don't want to know. So Transfig?" Terry nodded and they headed out together. They split off upon arrival, Terry going to join Padma who'd already arrived from Muggle Studies, looking happy indeed as she laughed at something Aaron was saying, and Ascella to sit in her usual seat and wait for Harry to join her.

Ascella took a moment to glance at Kevin but it didn't appear that he'd noticed her entrance. It was Aaron that had immediately spotted her and called her attention to the rest.

"Oi, 'Cella! You really missed out!" he said before rehashing whatever funny thing had happened in Muggle Studies, but Ascella found she wasn't listening very hard. She was too busy wondering why she felt disappointed that it was Aaron and not Kevin that had noticed her entrance and was the one to call her attention.

She managed to pay close enough attention to laugh though but luckily she was saved from responding by the arrival of the Gryffindor's all of whom it appeared had signed up for Divination and all of whom appeared to be rather disturbed and melancholic after their first lesson.

"What's with you?" Ascella asked Harry, distracted from her thoughts by his gloominess, which seemed even worse than all the rest, as he'd slumped down next to her.

"Nothing," he said rather shortly for Ascella's taste, just as the lesson began.

"Fine, bite my head off why don't you," she bristled just as McGonagall morphed into a cat. She was too annoyed to even be awed at discovering McGonagall was an animagus. The rest of the students were equally unimpressed, only a few of the Ravenclaws gasping in surprise.

McGonagall changed back, looking rather affronted that she hadn't gotten the reaction she'd been expecting and had always gotten in the past.

"Really, what is wrong with you lot?" she asked, her hands on her hips.

"Please, professor," Hermione spoke up. "But we just had our first divination lesson," (here Ascella managed to hold in her "bullshit" comment)" and well - it was - thought provoking."

Ascella almost snorted. She highly doubted that Hermione actually thought that, she'd recognized her friend's dubious (less than impressed) tone. McGonagall only sighed, immediately understanding what was going on.

"So which one of you is it this year?"

"I'm sorry, Professor?" Hermione asked with furrowed brow.

"Which one of you has Professor Trelawney predicted will die this year?"

Harry looked up. "Me, Professor," he said. So that was why the boy looked so miserable.

"Well then you should know Potter," McGonagall said fixing her gaze on Harry, "that Sibyll Trelawney has been predicting the death of at least one student every year since she started at Hogwarts. And I can assure you that not one of them has perished. If it weren't that I dislike speaking ill of a colleague," she continued sounding as though she very much wanted to in this instance, "then - well never mind that. You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

And while Parvati Patil and her crony Lavender Brown still were throwing suspicious looks Harry's way, Ascella could feel the mood brighten in the rest of the room, particularly in Harry and the rest of the lesson passed uneventfully. That is aside from Ascella incessantly pestering Harry for details of the Divination lesson that had so rattled the Gryffindors and most noticeably her friend. She found it all rather amusing much to Harry's annoyance and she only stopped her pestering when he'd snapped at her that she wouldn't find it so amusing if it was her that Trelawney had predicted the death of.

"Au contraire my dear friend, I would find it hilarious. Do you realize the opportunity you have here? The chance for pranks and messing with her?"

"But there isn't a chance it might come true for you is there? You don't have a madman out to kill you, do you?" Ascella drew in a sharp breath, and looked away from Harry, the blood draining from her face. She felt more than saw Harry stiffen, his mouth dropping open as he realized what he'd said. He was talking about her father.

"'Cella," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean -"

"It's whatever," she said shrugging off his apology. "Nothing to forgive, not when it's true."

Harry still looked conflicted like he didn't believe her and wanted to talk more but he dropped it when McGonagall shot the pair of them a death glare for talking all through her lesson on Animagi.

In truth the tension was still high between the two friends up to and all through lunch. Ascella's mood wasn't helped by the skirting glances thrown her way and the whispers she heard as she walked by in the Great Hall.

After about five minutes of this, Ascella finally threw her fork down and rose.

"You know," she said. "I'm not actually hungry after all." And then she grabbed her bag and left. She spent the rest of her lunch break wandering about until she found her way to the North tower where she had her next lesson, the Ravenclaw's first Divination lesson.

Ascella was the first to arrive. She was mildly horrified at the gaudiness of the throw pillows, armchairs and drapes in the stiflingly warm room, but then she remembered what this subject entailed and she got over her horror with a shrug. In all honesty she should have expected nothing less. She settled back into one of the more plush cushions around one of the tables in the middle of the room and closed her eyes, fully intent on catching a few minutes sleep.

She was rudely interrupted from this venture though at the sound of the trapdoor being flung loudly opened. She opened one eye and was displeased to see the intruder was none other than Zabini.

She closed her eye.

"Don't even think of trying to sit at my table Zabini," she said. She'd quite had enough of the Slytherins and didn't want to have to deal with another one. Oh why couldn't these lessons be with the Hufflepuffs?

She couldn't see the sneer on his face but she could hear it, and could easily picture what it looked like having seen it on more than one occasion.

"As if," he said. She heard him rustle around and end up across the classroom from her. Good, she thought. That way when the rest of the Slytherin's showed up they wouldn't be anywhere near her.

But as it turned out, Zabini was the only Slytherin in the lesson, and she got her wish that the rest that weren't her and her Ravenclaw friends actually were the Huffflepuffs.

Padma and Aaron joined Ascella in short order at her table, sinking onto a couple of the throw pillows around her and the table. Neither commented on why she was already there for which Ascella was grateful. She was also grateful that Harry wasn't in her Divination section instead in Care of Magical Creatures, where Terry and his friends were. Harry might not have mentioned what was going on with her but that he would still be thinking about it would be all too apparent to Ascella and she just didn't want to deal with the furtive glances that he'd throw her way.

Kevin though, did not join their table as expected. Ascella felt her mouth drop as first a dark haired Hufflepuff girl called his name when he'd been about to sink down onto the pillow between Ascella and Aaron, and then insisted he join their table even going so far as to put her hand on his arm and draw him over to a table with two others already at it, one girl and one delicate regal looking boy that Ascella swore was prettier than her. She thought his name was Oliver Rivers or something or other. The most shocking part of all though was that Kevin _let_ himself be dragged away from them, merely throwing a bemused look and a shrug as if 'what are you going to do' their way.

Ascella recovered then, feeling a bout of annoyance flare within her. She let her lip curl just a bit and said, "Ooh lookey here, Entwhistle thinks he's too good for us, mates." Aaron followed Ascella's gaze across the room and caught on with a grin.

"What? Are we not pretty enough for you? Thinking about outsourcing?" he called. Kevin, cheeks a bit red, sent a rude hand gesture their way in response.

"Ooh. Touchy that one," Ascella said to Aaron, but so her voice was still carrying across the room.

"You know I reckon we are better off without him," Aaron said, also facing Ascella but keeping his voice loud enough for Kevin to hear. "We don't need to sit with traitors!"

"You know I can't help but agree with you. Would you mind if I joined you? It seems _my_ friends want to hang about with _your_ friend more than me." Ascella looked up and met eyes with a tall, familiar looking Hufflepuff boy.

"Sure you can join us," Ascella said easily, after one look at the smiling brunette; if Kevin could ditch them so easily then she could show him she didn't need him.

The boy sat down and greeted himself.

"I'm Gabriel Fawley by the way," he said holding his hands out to them and shaking their hands. So polite, Ascella couldn't help but think. She also couldn't help but think she wouldn't be acting so nice if the rest of her friends had ditched her and she was in his shoes.

"Oh yeah! I remember you. You came to my birthday party last year, didn't you?" she asked finally remembering why she'd thought he looked familiar. She also recalled that he was the younger brother of Andreanna Fawley, George Weasley's girlfriend. His friendly good looks suddenly making all the more sense, for with his slightly floppy chestnut brown hair, easy smile and warm eyes he had the handsome boy next door vibe down pat and greatly resembled his pretty older sister.

"Oh yeah, the one put on by Potter 'round this time last year, right? You're Ascella Black then. Having another one this year?"

"I don't know. Do you think I should?"

"Well, last year's was right fun, so if you're asking me I don't see why not," Gabriel said with a genuine smile. It seemed at least one person outside her circle of friends wasn't put off by who her dad was.

"Hmm, I'll have to think about it," Ascella said seriously considering it. "It would have to be this weekend..." She trailed off. Maybe a party was just the thing she needed.

Turned out Fawley was alright in Ascella's book, he was certainly more open and friendly than any of Ascella's other friends, more like the other Hufflepuffs that Ascella had met and been annoyed with, but it worked well on Fawley and besides that he was still a laugh.

The lesson itself was actually a bit interesting, if not as exciting as Ascella felt Harry's must have been; no one was predicted to be dropping dead at any point in the course of the year, though Ernie MacMillan was adamant he saw a sign of death in his tea leaves. Trelawney spent most of her time trying to dissuade the boy which left the rest of them free to do whatever, which at Ascella's table basically involved distracting their partners so they could all change the shape the tea leaves had left, Ascella telling Fawley in a bold and dramatic voice that he would most assuredly forget to wear any knickers for the rest of the week. At first he'd thought she was serious, "No, surely it doesn't show that!" until he caught on and joined the fun, telling Ascella he was sure she would be trampled to death the next week by a rampaging centaur. Ascella was impressed and delighted, glad she'd told Aaron to partner Padma instead when he'd made to be her partner, knowing as she did about how Padma was with meeting new people.

"You know," Fawley mused at the end of the lesson as they packed up their stuff. "That was rather fun. Now I know why everyone wants to hang about you lot. You really aren't like some of the other Ravenclaws."

Ascella bristled up a bit but Padma caught on to her sudden mood change.

"Relax," she told her. "He means we aren't stuck-up-nose-in-books-studious-snobs like the rest of the school thinks of Ravenclaws as being.

"Oh," Ascella made a face. "As if." She turned to Fawley then. "And you're not as much of a stuffed-boring-goody-two-shoes as most of the Hufflepuffs."

Fawley let out a snort of laughter.

"Ha! You clearly don't know the Hufflepuffs that well then do you? Sure we prefer being nice and accepting but doesn't mean we don't have fun or think we are superior to others in any way."

"See it's precisely that, the fact that you _don't_ feel superior in any way to others that makes me suspicious of you lot. No one is that nice."

Fawley just laughed.

"I see you and I are going to have an interesting friendship then, spent mostly with me trying to convince you otherwise."

"Good luck with that!" Ascella exclaimed though she found herself almost looking forward to it; there was almost nothing she enjoyed more than a good debate. "Besides what makes you think we're friends, Fawley," Ascella teased, emphasizing his last name.

Not missing a beat came Fawley's response as they exited the classroom, him moving off to join his friends. "Oh just wait, Black, you'll see," he called back to her, hitching his bag higher as he fell in with his mates.

"I'll be waiting a long time then!" she called back, grinning as Kevin joined her, Padma and Aaron.

"How do you do it?" Padma marveled as they separated from the Hufflepuffs and headed for Charms with the other Ravenclaws.

"Do what?" Ascella asked tucking a loose strand of hair that had fallen out of her mid-height ponytail behind her ear. Kevin had joined them and she was pointedly ignoring him even as she was half listening to him and Aaron's conversation about why the Puffs had wanted him to sit with them. Apparently he didn't know. Aaron just waggled his eyebrows at him.

"Get people to like you and want to be your friend so fast?" Padma ground out. Ascella's brows came together, her pace slowing at the question.

"What do you mean?"

"One, hour-long lesson and you have someone who wants to be your friend already!" Padma explained gesturing the way Fawley had left.

"Oh that," Ascella waved her hand. "He was at my birthday party last year. And he's just a friendly person. I'm pretty sure he's about as popular as they come with like a zillion friends. Everyone likes Fawley."

"Okay one, I didn't know who he was until today. Two, I didn't ask if everyone likes him I asked why they like you so fast."

"Er one, how did you not? You know his older sister at least right, Andreanna Fawley, she's dating George Weasley? No? Well I thought everyone knew that. And two, I don't think people do like me all that much very fast. You and I didn't become friends 'til well into first year."

"That's cause you were never around."

"And you were always with Terry."

"Fair enough."

"Look maybe the reason people like me so fast is because I talk to them. Were you even considering talking to Fawley if I hadn't?" Padma fidgeted her shoulders uncomfortable.

"Well no," she admitted.

"See, maybe I just set myself up better for them to have a chance to like me."

"Maybe," Padma mused. She looked like the matter was put to rest for now but that was when the boys jumped in, Aaron squeezing in between them, throwing one arm around Ascella, the other around Padma. Kevin came up quieter on Ascella's other side but fell in nonetheless.

"What are we talking about?" Aaron chirped looking between the two of them, blue eyes staying on Ascella. Padma had ducked her head, a pleased smile on her face that turned sour when he dropped his arm from her shoulder but the other remained around Ascella.

"Why I seem to make people like me so fast," Ascella replied before Padma could tell her not to. "Pads here seems to think it's strange and doesn't understand."

"Oh, is that all?" Aaron snorted. "Even I can answer that."

"What?" Ascella asked, curious despite herself, amazed that Padma wasn't the only one who'd noticed something Ascella had never thought about before.

Aaron shared a look with Kevin and rolled his eyes.

"You don't give a fuck," he explained. "About what people think of you, how you look, which is really quite stunning, I might add," he teased with a playful smirk that only made Padma's scowl deepen, Kevin laugh and make Ascella roll her eyes so hard she could swear she felt the tendons at the back of her eyes strain with the effort, though she thought she wouldn't have minded so much had Kevin been the one to say it.

"Get to the point, Morag." Aaron's grin only widened though he did continue.

"Anyway, it's just you are so confident, you know, in who you are and are so unapologetic about it. People want to be like that too so they think if they hang around you long enough maybe some of that no-care attitude about what others think will rub off on them too."

Ascella thought about that for a second. Then she looked at Kevin.

"What's wrong with him? Since when does he offer up sage, in depth, thought out diatribes on the psychology of his friends?"

Kevin laughed.

"He's right though 'Cella," Kevin said through his grin.

"Well whatever. Can we talk about something else? This is making me uncomfortable."

"Gladly," Padma huffed. The other three turned to look at her, then look back at each other with matching faces of what's with her, before they all shrugged.

At the door to the Charms classroom Ascella pulled her aside.

"What's with you?" she asked. Padma sighed.

"I don't know," the girl grumbled, her eyes trained on the back of Aaron's head as he headed to his usual seat at the desk behind Ascella's and Terry's.

"O-kay," Ascella said slowly.

"How about we just forget it okay?" Padma said her brown eyes meeting Ascella's finally.

"Yeah sure," Ascella agreed though she had no idea just what she was supposed to be forgetting, not thinking there was anything wrong with the conversation they'd just had.

Padma moved off then to join Sue Li, Ascella thought her name was, that shared their dormitory but that Ascella hadn't ever really paid much attention to, she was rather quiet and boring, and Ascella moved to sit at her usual spot and wait for Terry to arrive.

He and his other friends had signed up for Care of Magical Creatures. They arrived nearly late, just as the bell was ringing to start the lesson, looking flushed, windblown and chattering away wildly.

"What's going on?" Ascella asked him as he sank down into the seat next to her.

"You should ask Potter," he whispered back as Flitwick welcomed them to a new year and started the lesson, Terry pulling parchment and his quill out of his bag.

Now Ascella was dying to know what had happened in the first ever Care of Magical Creatures lesson, it had been taught by Hagrid after all.

"Not even a hint?" she asked Terry, throwing him her best puppy dog eyes to try and weasel it out of him.

It almost worked but Flitwick glanced up at them then. Instead Terry wrote on the top of her parchment. 'Ask Potter. It involved Malfoy.'

Ascella glared. Of course it did. And whatever it was she bet it wasn't good.

Harry wasn't down at dinner after Charms and the rumors she'd started to hear were making her nervous. Something bad had happened, the rumors all about someone getting hurt in Care of Magical Creatures, in the Hospital Wing now. The absence of Malfoy's sneering face only further confirmed Ascella's worries.

Harry had better not have gotten himself expelled was Ascella's only thought as she wolfed down a dinner and practically ran up to Gryffindor Tower. She breathed a sigh of relief at finding her friend in an armchair by the fire with Ron and Hermione even if he wore a miserable expression on his face.

Joining them Ascella was promptly informed of what had happened in their lesson. Ascella had at first been jealous of not signing up for Care of Magical Creatures at hearing that they'd gotten to see Hippogriffs but that jealousy had turned to anger when she'd heard what happened to Malfoy.

"That little git!" she exclaimed. "His stupidity is going to get Hagrid sacked."

"Hopefully not," Harry said, miserably. "But it doesn't look good. You know how much influence his dad has. We just got back from Hagrid's and he told us Dumbledore doesn't want to sack him but that Buckbeak might not be so lucky."

Ascella slumped back into the chair she was sitting in.

"This is bollocks," she said. The others nodded in agreement.

Over the next few days it became clear that Malfoy was going to be even more revolting than usual. He'd returned to lessons and meals, his arm in a splint and he was taking far too much joy in his "injury" for Ascella's liking as well as still lording knowledge about Black over both Ascella and Harry.

In their first Herbology lesson he'd tried to make Ascella trim his miniature biting fir plant (Ascella had already been bitten no less than six times by her own, a fact she found more than a little disconcerting; the plant was less than a foot tall! And looked like a Christmas tree!) but she'd threatened to trim something else for him instead, her eyes flicking down briefly towards his nether region. Zabini had cut in then telling Malfoy to just make Crabbe do it, as even he was better at Herbology than Ascella. Ascella wasn't sure whether to be more offended, she was better at the very least than _Crabbe_ at Herbology or grateful at this statement because it had gotten Malfoy to leave her alone for a bit though he didn't stop telling anyone who would listen how painful his injury was and about how angry his father was.

Ascella was tempted to carry out her threat if only to get him to shut up for a bit. Or better yet get sent away; even if she got detention it would still be better than listening to him and she'd get out of Herbology to boot.

The next day Ascella was running late to her first Ancient Runes lesson, already annoyed, Malfoy had been dropping vague hints about her father to her and Harry, loudly saying things like "If it was me, I'd want revenge. I'd hunt him down myself. And I certainly wouldn't befriend his _daughter_. What if she ended up doing the same to me?" whatever _that_ meant.

Her annoyance didn't ebb in Ancient Runes either, though she found the material fascinating and was glad she wasn't headed to a lesson with Malfoy like Harry. She discovered that she was taking the course not only without Hermione, who had it in a different section but without any of her other Ravenclaw friends who had signed up for it. Terry had it with Hermione, though his friends Corner and Goldstein were in this section. But so were Lisa Turpin and Mandy. In fact the only good thing appeared to be that Fawley was in her section and while he waved at her with a smile he was with his friends already and the only remaining seat left open next to Blaise Zabini, which was completely less than desired.

"Boy I am seeing far more of you than I ever wanted to," she said darkly dropping her bag on the floor next to the desk and flopping down into her seat.

"The feeling is mutual," he sneered back. Oh the fun the two of them had. They spent the majority of the rest of the lesson in silence. Only when Turpin raised her hand to ask a question did Zabini, utter disgust written all over his face, ask, "What is wrong with her hair?"

Ascella couldn't help the small chuckle she let out, a bubble of delight growing within. "I hexed it puke green first night and she tried to fix it, but couldn't, so now it's orange." Zabini side eyed Ascella for a moment as he took that in. Then he looked away towards the front of the room, but Ascella could swear the corner of his mouth twitched up in amusement.

After that Ascella had her first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with Harry, which she gladly bounded to, finding her friends in the corridor outside and linking arms with him, just glad to see a friendly face.

"You seem cheerful," he said, not looking like he shared the sentiment.

"Well I was annoyed but being away from Malfoy for an hour really does a soul wonders."

"Lucky you," Ron grumbled. "I just spent the past hour cutting up Malfoy's Potion ingredients."

Ascella made a face.

"What a prat," she said in sympathy then she had a thought. "Say was Zabini in that lesson?" she asked. It was Hermione that replied though, no doubt thinking along the same line of thought as Ascella was.

"No, he has Potions with the other section of Slytherins."

"Ah, makes sense." Ascella was just glad not more than one person had a Time Turner this year. She didn't know if she would have been able to stand the injustice of it. Especially if the other one was Zabini.

It was then that they arrived, Harry and Ascella choosing to sit next to each other this year and pulling out their books and parchment.

"Put that away, and wands out!" Lupin called, upon entering. "We are having a practical," he added. "Pack up and follow me." Ascella and Harry exchanged wide eyed looks of excitement - they hadn't ever had a real practical before - before they did as he instructed. They didn't have to be told twice.

The class then followed Lupin to the staff room where they were met with Peeves at the door. He had been putting gum into the lock but began to make fun of Lupin upon seeing him. "Looney Lupin," he sang out until Lupin sighing as he did so, dislodged the gum with a wave of his wand and sent it up Peeves' left nostril.

"Brilliant sir," said Dean Thomas, echoing the awe and sentiment of all those around.

"Thank you, Dean," Lupin replied before ushering them into the staff room. The only teacher there was Snape. He made some nasty comment about Longbottom that set Ascella's hackles up, while Longbottom whimpered, before he stalked out. Ascella was glad though that Lupin had defended the boy, telling Snape that Longbottom was actually going to be aiding him in his demonstration.

"What was that all about?" Ascella whispered to Harry as Lupin began to explain what they would be doing, Hermione earning numerous points for Gryffindor, even as Lupin tried to ask others. Harry leaned in and explained what had happened in Potions, how Snape had threatened Longbottom with feeding his potion to Trevor the boys' toad, and how Hermione had whispered him the instructions for how to fix his potion so it didn't poison the toad.

"What a bastard," Ascella breathed, her eyes filled with sympathy as she looked at the poor Neville Longbottom. She never usually paid much attention to the boy but any victim of Snape's was a friend of hers.

They all laughed uproariously at the image of the boggart Snape wearing Neville Longbottom's Grandmother's clothes. Ascella had to hand it to Lupin, he was pretty much the coolest teacher they'd ever had and by far the best defense teacher and it was only the first day.

Lupin informed them it was now their turn to give it a go, instructing them to think of what they feared the most and then make it funny. Ascella held back for a while unable to think of what scared her the most. At first she thought of the noise that man had made in her memory from when she'd passed out but she'd quickly dismissed that as an image of her father's face from the Prophet article over the summer came to mind. She didn't so much fear that memory or even feeling like that man, no her greatest fear was becoming her father. And she thought she had just the way to make that funny. She stepped forward, wand at the ready.

The boggart came in front of her next. It spun, morphed, changing shape until it changed into her father, long unkempt black hair hanging in strings around his sallow colored face, the skin stretched taunt across his high cheekbones. The entire class gasped and took a step back, but Ascella stared into the man's eyes, the gray eyes exactly like her own. She hoped she was the only one that noticed how the boggart began to change, slowly, and everywhere but the eyes, the hair growing even longer, the black turning blond, the face and body becoming more feminine to show her what she'd look like if she had spent 12 years in Azkaban. It was then, when the hair was almost all blond that Ascella raised her wand, her hand shaking and cried "Ridikulus!"

A black dog bounded in then, the same big one that she'd played with over the summer with Kevin. The dog jumped, its front paws meeting the chest of the slowly morphing into Ascella boggart, knocking him/her to the ground, before pulling the man's robes over his head and lifting a leg to pee on his head.

Ascella was the only one who didn't laugh at the playful boggart dog. Her and a white faced Lupin, but Ascella didn't notice because he recovered sooner to step in front of Harry to take the last crack at the boggart.

The lesson ended then, with everyone but Ascella and Harry chattering about what an amazing lesson it had been. Ascella didn't know what was going through her friends head but she was glad for the quiet. Going to bed that night, in Gryffindor, she wanted to avoid the questions her Ravenclaw friends were sure to ask, she couldn't help but feel that this was going to be a long year if in the course of one day, she could so fluctuate moods, from annoyance to happiness. To fear.

Her dreams that night were filled with the image of the boggart turning into her, of seeing her face morph fully into that of the one it tried to show her. She was glad she didn't move in her sleep though, not during nightmares anyway, else she doubted she wouldn't have kicked Harry awake. As it was, he knew anyway, taking one look at the bags under her eyes the next morning.

"Hey," he said. "Didn't sleep well?"

It was pointless to argue, he already knew, so Ascella shook her head.

"Nope. Just kept seeing Black's face morph into my own," she said.

"You won't become him," Harry said fiercely, pulling her aside on their way down to breakfast, eyes boring intensely into hers, Ron and Hermione throwing them one look back before Hermione tugged Ron along ahead.

Ascella tried to shrug him off but his grip was too tight.

"You don't know that," she mumbled.

"Yes. I do. I _know_ you. In truth you are a bit crazy," (here Ascella attempted to hit her friend in the stomach but he grabbed her hand instead, blocking her) "But you aren't evil Ascella."

"How do you know?" she argued. "You don't know my thoughts. Maybe I just keep it under wraps? I can be downright nasty you know."

"Ascella!" Harry groaned his head falling back. "Would you honestly ever murder 12 innocent people in one go around?"

"Well no. That's just stupid. And if I did, I wouldn't be batty enough to get caught." Harry blinked at her.

"You know I take it back. You are definitely like him. You'll clearly turn out just like him," he said before walking off.

Ascella rolled her eyes and caught up to him.

"You really are a help Harry," she said sarcastically.

"Whatever, you know you feel better," he replied. And she found that she actually did. She may still have her doubts but Harry having so blatantly in those terms said out loud what her thoughts were made it sound all rather silly.

She was cheered even more when Kevin found her at breakfast to tell her that the Ravenclaw Quidditch trials were that Saturday. She'd told him over the summer she was thinking of trying out for the team. She didn't think she'd make it but it would be good experience to give it a go. She made him promise he had to come with her to watch, to which he readily agreed, his warm smile making Ascella's cheeks grow a bit pink. Harry had given her a strange look as they moved on to the Gryffindor table.

"What?" she asked.

"How come you didn't ask me to come?" he inquired, unable to hide his grin.

"Because you have to set up for my birthday party," she replied as if this was obvious. She'd told Harry about the idea Fawley had given her and he had agreed it would be fun. Harry didn't buy it as her excuse for his question though.

"Uh-huh," he said unbelieving, piling on some bacon to his plate. Ascella swiped a slice to be annoying.

Saturday found her outside in the sun on the Quidditch pitch very confused as to why she was still there. She knew she was an alright flyer but she wasn't excelling per say at any of the positions, and she was definitely worse than that Hartmann bloke that had just been sent off. She was shocked even more when Roger Davies announced her number as having made the team.

"Wha-?" she asked as Kevin and Aaron cheered from the stands, the latter of whom had tagged along.

"You'll be reserve Black," Davies said with a wink and a smirk. Ascella was too stunned to reply. "As for the rest of you," Davies dropped his clipboard to look at the rest of those left. "Better luck next year!"

The rest of the Ravenclaws around Ascella proceeded to walk away more than one of them grumbling and shooting dark looks Ascella's way.

She didn't know why, other than that they must be jealous, and so she preened back at them, an arrogant smile on her lips.

Kevin found her shortly after, congratulating her with a big grin and a hug that made Ascella blush.

"Congrats!" he said.

"Seriously! This is great!" Aaron said, replacing Kevin in giving Ascella a hug. His hug was too long to Ascella while Kevin's hadn't lasted nearly long enough. Ascella had at first been a little disappointed when Aaron had showed up to go with Kevin and her down to the tryouts but she'd gotten over it when she realized that Kevin probably would have been bored without his friend to keep him entertained, even if a selfish part of her thought that just watching her should be more than enough entertainment.

Davies came over then to congratulate her as well.

"Great flying," he started with. Ascella might have felt thankful but the way he said it and where his eyes were trained (anywhere but her eyes) made her think he wasn't talking about her flying.

"Er - thanks," she managed to say. Kevin and Aaron eyed the older boy with suspicion in their eyes.

After looking at Ascella for a bit more, far more than was surely an appropriate amount of time, he finally acknowledged the others.

"Well I was going to offer to walk you back up to the castle but looks like you are covered," he nodded at her friends.

"Baby Morag, doing alright?" he greeted Aaron, who flushed deeply. Davies was good friends with Aaron's older brother and Aaron hated being called baby Morag. Ascella found the comment odd, especially as most of Aaron's friends liked Aaron overall and usually only used it in a friendly way.

"Anyway," Davies said, letting his hand brush down her arm, "Be seeing you Black."

The three of them watched the older boy walk away before turning to each other and busting up laughing.

"'Be seeing you'," Ascella mocked, touching Aaron's arm like Davies had to her, while Aaron pretended to swoon. "That boy must think he's god's gift to the female gender or something, sheesh. Anyway, back to the castle? I need a shower and I've got a Potter I need to gloat to not to mention a party to plan." And so they headed back to the castle laughing and in good spirits for once, more than ready to enjoy the rest of what promised to be an excellent day.

* * *

 **a/n so I debated heavily having Ascella try out for Quidditch (as it's really not something she is any good at - or cares all that much about) but I decided it opened up some really good opportunities for later... so she made the team... well sort of :)**

 **So bit long and bit of a filler/stage setter for later events but hopefully it was still a good read! Next Chapter coming soon. Any predictions? ;) and thanks to all the reviewers and people reading! You brighten my day.**


	25. Chapter 25

**a/n See? Look how quick that update was! Anyway, lots going on in this chapter, another roller coaster ride for Ascella, so hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Nope don't own, that would be JK Rowling**

* * *

 **October 1993**

And what a day it had been, filled with fun and friends. The sort of day Ascella wished very much she could go back to as September slipped into October, bringing with it colder weather and more of Malfoy's dramatics. While it was obvious to anyone who really noticed that Malfoy's injury had long since healed, he was still insisting it was sore. In addition to that he was still reveling in the fact that he'd finally found successful ammunition with which to goad Ascella, but she wasn't the only one growing annoyed with the Slytherin.

Ascella had been shocked one day in Herbology when even Blaise Zabini had apparently had enough of Malfoy's melodramatics. Malfoy had been doing a bang up job of playing up his "injury" in between saying nasty things to Ascella about her dad, when Zabini had said, trying to sound bored, but with an edge nonetheless, "Oh give it a rest Draco. Like your father's much better. He was just able to bribe his way out of trouble." It shut Malfoy right up.

Ascella didn't know whether to thank Zabini or gawk at him. Catching sight of his face she decided to just ask, "What was that for?"

"Not you, if that's what you're implying," came his sneering response, turning back to the puffapod they were de-seeding.

"Well - I wasn't," Ascella stuttered out. Zabini gave her a tight lipped smile like he didn't believe her. Ascella decided then to just be grateful and never mention it again. Oh and immortalize forever the look on Malfoy's face at Zabini's words. The rest of Herbology passed rather well, all things considered. Zabini was quiet after shutting Malfoy up but it was evident he was glad of it. Or he was just glad Kevin was back this year as he had someone who was at least passable at Herbology once again to help out.

Unfortunately this momentary break from Malfoy's taunts, while grateful, wasn't enough recuperating time for Ascella to be able to stop herself from hexing him in the corridor between lessons after he made another snide comment about her father. This of course was seen by Minnie McG and Ascella landed herself in detention for a week. Ascella had been both surprised and delighted though to find that Minnie was assigning her to detention with Lupin.

The shabby Defense teacher had fast become a favorite among the third year students, Ascella included. She had to figure detention with him couldn't be all that bad, certainly a step up from one with Filch or shudder, Snape, who had been absolutely revolting this year, worse even than ever before. Ascella wasn't sure if his particular nastiness stemmed from the news of the boggart incident or because he'd been passed up once again as the Defense teacher but whatever the reason he was worse than ever, especially towards Harry. He even seemed to have an open loathing for Professor Lupin that he had never expressed towards any of their previous Defense professors.

Whatever the reason, Ascella found herself off to her first detention with Lupin, not dreading what was to come nearly so much as she might have.

The first night they didn't talk much at the beginning beyond the usual polite greeting, but that might have mostly had to do with the fact that they both wore masks covering their mouths as they sprayed down an old tapestry Lupin had found on the fifth floor that was riddled with doxies. It was actually quite fun, the little buggers coming alive as they realized what was happening and trying to spring out at them until Ascella or Lupin hit them with a face full of doxy spray.

After, as they gathered them up and dumped them into a bag, Ascella couldn't help but ask, her mask pulled down and hanging about her neck, "So what do you need these blighters for then?"

"First years need a practical," Lupin explained. "Won't need quite so many as all these but Filch needed this tapestry cleaned up anyway." Then grunting as he lugged one of the brown sacks over his shoulder he asked, "Would you mind helping me lug these back to my office? Then you will be free to go."

"Of course," she replied with an easy grin. "But I won't be 'lugging' anything." Then with a wave of her wand, the other bag of doxies was floating along in front of her. She couldn't help but give Lupin a raised eyebrow look as they started off to emphasize how much better her method was. Lupin only chuckled though, shaking his head as if her actions reminded him of a fond memory.

Back down in Lupin's office, he grunted as he wiped some sweat from his brow, "Drop those in that corner." He half pointed, half threw his bag to the corner he meant. Ascella easily and effortlessly guided her bag there and let it down easy before ceasing the spell. Lupin looked up at her then, more than a little impressed.

"You can do non-verbal?" he asked.

"Only for easy charms, like that," she replied uninterested in this turn of the conversation, instead surveying the rest of the room. She'd only seen the office when Lockhart had been there as she'd served such a lovely detention with him doing lines the previous year. She was glad to say that Lupin was a much better decorator. If relatively bare and devoid of personal items it was at the very least devoid of thousands of smiling photos of himself on every available inch of space.

Lupin appeared to want to talk more about her Charms abilities but Ascella interrupted him pointing at the smoking goblet on his desk and asking, "What's that?"

Lupin looked at it and his face paled a bit.

"Oh that, that is nothing. Just been feeling a bit under the weather so I had a potion brewed for me."

"Why didn't you just go to the Hospital wing?"

"Alright nosy," Lupin said trying to use his body to prevent Ascella from stepping closer to inspect the potion - it smelled awfully familiar but she couldn't quite place it - "Just a perk of being a professor - room service."

"Ooh do the House elves come up too with food?" Ascella asked letting Lupin think she'd forgotten about the potion. Under the weather he might be feeling but with the way he was acting she bet that potion was a little more than a simple Pepperup. But she supposed she could let Lupin think he'd kept his secret from her. For now at least.

The next day's detention found them once more in Lupin's office. This time Ascella was helping to grade a quiz he'd given his fifth year students ("Honestly these tossers are right morons! Who doesn't know that you can't use that spell to fend off a banshee? Ah, this is Montague's. That makes more sense, Slytherin git." "Ascella!" Lupin tried to berate. "What? He is.") and drinking tea that Lupin had provided, while he wrote up lesson plans for the following week.

About half way through the stack Ascella glanced up at Lupin. They were sharing his large desk, her on the front side, a bottle of ink between them. He really did still look a bit peaky, she supposed.

"Yes?" Lupin asked, having caught her looking at him. Ascella started. He hadn't lifted his head to catch her but catch her he had; it was like he had some sort of heightened senses but whatever she supposed she did have a question for him.

"Did you ever serve detention in your time at Hogwarts, Professor? You and any of your friends?" she asked casually, dipping her quill into the ink pot as she asked.

Lupin, who'd just been about to take a sip of tea, choked on it, and spilt it too in haste to set it down. Vanishing the damage with a wave of his wand he answered not quite meeting her gaze.

"Oh yes, more than a few times. But my friends were there far more than I ever was."

"Ha, so you were the good one. See I'm the one that's always in detention of my mates. Between Harry, Ron and I, it's definitely me. Harry says it's 'cause I can't keep my mouth shut. Or a rein on my temper. I tell him, that more often than not, I am merely doing the world a service by helping rid it of stupidity."

Lupin choked on his tea again, but this time because he appeared to be trying not to laugh.

"What?" Ascella asked dubious, a half smile coming to her face.

"Oh nothing," he replied his eyes sparkling just a bit. "You just reminded me of someone."

"What someone?" Ascella asked curious despite herself.

Lupin's eyes grew pained then. He looked away, out the window, the waxing moon streaming its light through the panes.

"Just someone I thought I'd once known," he finally said. And Ascella gathered enough from his tone to know to drop the subject.

The next day in detention they were back at it, this time Ascella was grading 7th year quizzes (" _Flint_? Marcus Flint? Isn't this his second year as a 7th year? You'd think he'd do better the second time, sheesh!") and Lupin was cleaning an empty tank he said would soon house a grindylow.

"You know I'm beginning to understand why you requested to oversee my detentions," Ascella started. Lupin looked up, rag in hand his face betraying his bemusement. "To do all your grading," she said pointing the end of her quill at him. He laughed.

"You've found me out!" Ascella grinned and turned back to grading Flint's truly atrocious quiz. "Truth is I actually rather enjoy the grading," he admitted, coming back over towards her. He gathered up the tea tray from a side table and brought it over to the desk where Ascella was working. Tonight she was in his chair a place she had shamelessly flopped down in when he'd told her he would be cleaning.

"But I had a feeling _you_ might not." Ascella glared but she didn't really mean it. He was certainly right about her not enjoying it (making fun of idiot Slytherin's aside), it was just that she barely did her own homework let alone someone else's (and yes grading is a teachers homework, Ascella had concluded, their punishment for trying to educate a bunch of young and ungrateful witches and wizards)

"Well la dee da," she said with a soft eye roll. Lupin only smiled, no doubt knowing he'd been right.

"Tea?" he asked a moment later.

"Yes please."

"I'd been meaning to ask," Lupin said, sitting down across from her, as if he were the student not she, his hands wrapped around the cup of warm tea, its steam floating up in front of his face. "The black dog you used to tackle the boggart" (Ascella had stiffened when he'd begun this question but relaxed when he didn't say her father or even his name) "The one that made everyone laugh with it's antics?"

"Ye-es," Ascella drew out, hardly knowing where this was going. Lupin tried to smile in encouragement, but Ascella couldn't help but notice the sudden intensity in his eyes.

"Well, its just it was rather a clever way to deal with your fear. I was only wondering if he's your dog from back home?"

"No," she said, shaking her head and biting into a biscuit she'd snatched off the tea tray, while Lupin's hands had been busy pouring her tea. She found it a bit strange that Lupin was bringing this up, especially as he was trying to make it out like the answer didn't matter to him. "Just some stray I played with over the summer

"So you'd never seen this dog before this summer?" Lupin asked, with an intensity that hadn't been there before.

"Oh I'm sure I've seen it before. Strays are always coming 'round to my place. Meda says it's cause I'm soft and am always giving them treats. Ted says it's because of my sunny disposition." Here Lupin was supposed to snort, all of her mates would have, but he was too busy looking relieved. Ascella narrowed her eyes.

"Say, why do you ask?"

"Just curious," he said before changing the subject and asking her about her friendship with Harry.

"Oh! He's the best mate there is! Only don't tell him I said so, don't want him getting a big head now do we?"

"No, one big headed Potter is enough for a lifetime I think," Lupin murmured, so softly Ascella almost didn't hear it, a smile on his lips.

"What was that?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

Lupin opened his mouth then to explain but at that time Snape walked in with a steaming goblet exhuming the same blue smoke as the one from a few days previous.

For once Snape seemed delighted to see her, as he swept in. He set the goblet down on Lupin's desk and told him to drink up, his eyes turning to Ascella. Ascella felt her stomach plummet, _no, it couldn't be_ , she thought recognizing the potion, no doubt why Snape seemed so chummed to see her. Ascella looked away from his gleaming eyes as Lupin politely thanked Snape for the potion. Her eyes found the moon outside, so close to full.

She was silent for long after Snape had left and well after Lupin had choked down the potion. She didn't know what to say, didn't really know what she was feeling but she had to say something.

"You're a werewolf."

"Wha - what makes you say that?" a pale faced Lupin stuttered.

Ascella's gray eyes flicked to the potion and back to his face.

"That could be anything-"

"No, it's Wolfsbane," she cut him off. "I should know, Meda spent a month this summer brewing it and experimenting with it, trying to get it to taste better, and I was helping until I got distracted by other things." Other things being her father's escape. "And only a werewolf would consent to drink that everyday before a full moon." She looked back up into her professors eyes, saw the panic growing there. "Don't worry," she said with sincerity and a small smile, starting to understand how she was feeling about this revelation; angry but not at Lupin, no for Lupin she only felt sadness. "I won't tell anyone, not even Harry. If Snape is making you Wolfsbane then Dumbledore obviously knows. And he still hired you so that's good enough for me. Mind you, doesn't make me think of him as being any less loony, but I have other reasons for thinking that. Many other reasons."

"I - thank you," Lupin breathed, looking relieved and more than a little grateful.

"Don't mention it. You're the best teacher we've had yet and I can't imagine you hurting a fly. Anyway, enough of this touchy feely stuff am I free to go?" Ascella asked.

Lupin laughed.

"Yes, you are. See you in class tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Professor L."

And Ascella did keep her promise to not tell, even as the secret burned a whole within her and she wanted nothing more than to share with Harry the injustice that such a nice man could be so afflicted, to have to suffer so much. It just raged within her, so much so that she knew she had to do something. It wasn't until the first Charms club meeting that Friday that she realized what it was she could do.

She and Terry had been getting ahead after the main part of the meeting, practicing cheering charms on each other when the idea of how to help just floated into her mind.

"Professor Flitwick?" she asked an hour later, hiking her bag up higher onto her shoulder. She waved Terry on, when he drew back to wait for her; she didn't want anyone to overhear this conversation.

"Yes m'dear?" Flitwick squeaked, turning from putting away the matchboxes they'd been charming to give Ascella his full attention.

"Sir, I was wondering if it would be possible for me to get permission to have access to the N.E.W.T level student potion stores? I know I should be asking Professor Snape but I don't know that he'd approve of my reasons for it and I thought maybe with your backing... well that perhaps it would help my case."

"And what is your reason?"

"Er - " Ascella started, not really knowing how to proceed, how much she should reveal she knew. She supposed Flitwick probably knew about Professor Lupin but she didn't know for sure. Best to play it safe so she decided on, "Well you see this summer, Meda and I were trying out that new Wolfsbane potion - for fun - you see we like to try hard potions and see if we can make them and then experiment a bit and well I've recently found I really want to continue experimenting and make it taste better. I mean it's already awful enough that wereworlves have to transform once a month and feel awful but then when we finally have a potion to make them harmless it tastes so very awful."

Flitwick blue eyes softened and Ascella could have sworn she saw tears well up in the corners of her head of houses eyes. He cleared his throat and removed his glasses to wipe at them.

"I think that's a marvelous idea," he said thickly replacing his glasses. He'd clearly seen through her evasive reasons to see her motivation stemmed from wanting to help Lupin but he followed her lead and didn't mention what they both knew aloud. "Yes, I will talk to Professor Snape and get you the permission you need. In the meantime let me write up a permission form that let's you check anything out from the restricted section you might need to aid you."

"Thank you Professor," Ascella gushed, with a wide smile, as he rummaged around his desk for the proper form and signed off on it. She took the form from her head of house a bubble of joy in her chest. She just knew she'd be able to do it.

"And Miss Black," Flitwick called as she made to leave. Ascella turned back expectant. He smiled at her. "Your mother would have been very proud of you."

It was Ascella's turn to get choked up. Eyes unexpectedly watering a bit she ducked her head and smiled.

"Thank you," she managed to get out and then she left a lightness to her step she hadn't felt in long time, not since her father's escape that was for sure.

"Come on Ter! We need to get to the library!" she said upon spotting her friend still outside the classroom waiting for her.

"Why am I suddenly nervous that you are _excited_ to go to the library?" the boy asked, looking at her with deep skepticism, eyebrows raised high. "On a _Friday_ evening no less."

"Oh hush. Are you coming or not?" Terry sighed. She batted her eyes at him. "You know I can't get into Ravenclaw without you..."

"Fine," he groused, like he was actually put out, but Ascella could tell he was only pretending.

"Come on!" she said grabbing his hand and dragging him along at a run; they had less than an hour til curfew.

The library was even more quiet than usual at that time on a Friday evening, only a few tables occupied by studious students, most of them fifth and seventh years. Ascella marched past them all, dropping Terry's hand to lead the way, barely noticing the Hufflepuff fifth year retrieving a book who she breezed right by, with a brief nod as she headed for the restricted section.

"We can't be in the restricted section," Terry hissed at her, his voice pitched low, lest someone over hear. He slunk along behind her, eyes casting furtively around as though at any moment a prefect or Madame Pince would appear to reprimand them. He was right to be nervous as the fifth year Hufflepuff Ascella had blown by was indeed a prefect. Lucky for them he was more curious about what the third year Ravenclaw's were up to than getting them in trouble.

Ascella, meanwhile, did not copy Terry's efforts to keep them from being detected, speaking at a normal volume, and confidently leading the way.

"Come on Boot. Live a little," she said, looking at the shelves for the books she might need. There was the book containing the potion that was a must, but there were also theory books she would need on how certain ingredients react when mixed.

Terry glared at the back of her head. "There is 'living a little', 'Cella and then there is being blatantly stupid. We are just _asking_ to get in trouble."

"Not with this," Ascella said airily, handing Terry the parchment Flitwick had given her and going back to her perusing. Terry held the parchment in both hands and read it, his eyes widening in disbelief as he got to the bottom.

" _Any_ book?" he said, finally rising his eyes to focus on her.

" _Any_ ," she grinned at him.

"Well, what do you need then?" he asked relieved of his previous concerns, handing the parchment back to her, so she could tuck it into her bag.

"Could you see if 'Monkshood, Wolfsbane and Aconite: The Deadly Truth' is available? Should be in the A's of the Potions section."

Twenty minutes later both her and Boot were laden down with books Ascella might need. She nearly dropped one as she made past the same Hufflepuff prefect as before - who now looked positively amused and impressed though Ascella didn't notice - before she decided she was being ridiculous and reaching into her pocket she withdrew her wand and with a wave hers and Terry's books were now floating in a nice stack before her.

"Good one 'Cella!" Terry said. "Should've thought of that sooner." And they made their way to check out with Madame Pince, leaving the now open-mouthed Hufflepuff behind.

At first Pince was loath to let Ascella have all the books, but after thoroughly reading over Flitwick's permission form she finally relented.

On the way back to Ravenclaw Tower, which she couldn't help but note, seemed closest of all the houses to the library, she was so cheerful that Terry commented she must still be feeling the effects of the cheering charm they had been working on for fun earlier. She just smiled and let him believe that was the reason but her smile got stuck as they turned a corner and she caught a glimpse out an east facing window of the full moon rising over the Forbidden Forest. She felt her heart go out to her Professor, locked away in his office, but she felt heartened to know that at least with the Wolfsbane potion he would keep his mind. If anything the sight of it buoyed her drive further and when she got back to Ravenclaw she set up camp in what was as close to a corner in the circular room as it got and stayed up late into the night reading.

She spent the rest of the weekend similarly disposed, not even leaving Ravenclaw tower for meals, simply conning her friends into bringing her food. Padma always played like she wasn't going to but she still did, Then again Ascella wasn't sure if that was just because Aaron and Terry were always sure to bring her back food that made Padma bring her back food too; the girl had been acting very strangely this year. Terry even sat with her at her table (which was rather brave of him considering the table was covered in stacks of books and parchment with which Ascella was taking notes, she'd even pulled over one of the many blackboards on wheels that littered the common room and she'd never used before, now covered in her ideas and thoughts and acting as a screen that shielded her from view of the rest in the common room; she had never looked more like a Ravenclaw and yet never cared less) and helped her by looking through some of the books she'd already read and making sure she hadn't missed anything (which she hadn't).

It was late Sunday evening, as they were doing this, that Terry, shutting a book casually, mentioned that Harry had been looking for her at dinner. Ascella looked up at him then, a bit of chalk and ink smudged on her face, her long wavy blond hair pulled into a messy ponytail, wisps of it framing her face in that effortless way most girls tried desperately to achieve, despite her not having washed it for a few days, her eyes blinking into focus as she comprehended what Terry had said.

"Oh!" she finally said, her mind letting something other than her research enter it for the first time all weekend. Then she looked at the clock to see if she had time to rush over to Gryffindor Tower. "Oh," she said again, dismayed. It was well after curfew and the only way she'd get back into Ravenclaw would be if Terry came along, which he wouldn't, rule follower that he was, and she couldn't leave her research all night. She bit her lip. "I'll just have to see him at breakfast I s'pose," she said. "Did you tell him I was alive at least?"

Terry laughed. "No 'Cella, I told him the truth; that you'd gone bat crazy mad and were actually acting like a true Ravenclaw."

Ascella gasped pretending to be very offended.

"No you didn't? Whatever will he think of me now?" she said with mock concern, her hand on her chest in an 'oh my' gesture.

Terry leaned in, as if to share a secret. "Don't worry. I'll still be your friend."

"Well thank Merlin for that!" she laughed.

It was then at that noise that Aaron poked his head in.

"She lives!" he cried upon seeing her. Ascella rolled her eyes, but did decide that perhaps a little break would do her some good, so she agreed to join Aaron, Kevin and a few of his brother's friends in a game of Exploding Snap when he asked (and no not _just_ because Kevin was playing), missing the way Terry's face fell in disappointment at being interrupted. One of the combatants was Roger Davies, who informed Ascella with a smile that the first Quidditch practice would be later that week. After Ascella had creamed everyone she used some quick wand work to pack up her research and she headed to bed.

Early Monday morning she stopped by the Owlery to use her barn owl Esmeralda, stopping to pet Hedwig as she went, to write to Meda asking for a copy of her Wolfsbane research notes from the summer - Meda always had the best notes - before heading down to meet up with Harry in the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Where've you been?" he greeted her, half amused, half concerned when she'd slipped in next to him and put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"I'm simply exhausted, Harry. So much reading. So many notes. So much research."

Harry scrunched up his face as he reached for a roll.

"Research?" he asked. "Research for what?"

"Can't say my dearest Potter," Ascella intoned rising from his shoulder to make up her own plate of food. "But I can assure you it is very important!"

"Whatever you say 'Cella," Harry said with a smile and a shake of his head. They spent the rest of breakfast joking around and catching up, apparently he was starting Quidditch practice soon too.

"You nervous?" he asked her.

"I don't know," Ascella mused. She hadn't really thought about it. "Should I be?" Harry shrugged.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. But it is different than when we muck about at the Weasley's in the summer."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said and then it was time for lessons, Harry off to Herbology, Ascella to History of Magic. She bid Harry good bye and caught up with Aaron and Kevin. Aaron and her's bet was still very much in place, and was still unbeknownst to Kevin and Ascella was still winning even as Aaron was much more amused at his loses this year than in the past. Ascella had found that while she was saddened that Kevin still slept all through the lesson as it meant he couldn't join her and Aaron's games of hangman and general chit chat, it was rather nice to steal glances at him as he slept; he was so very cute, she found.

It was just as they were ascending the marble staircase that from behind a squeaky voice called to her, pushing his way through the crowd.

"Miss Black! Miss Black!" It was Professor Flitwick. Ascella stopped and turned, both boys stopping with her.

Her Head of House finally reached her, quite out of breathe and clutching a form in his small hands.

"This is for you," he said handing it to her. "Permission to use the private N.E.W.T level potion stores and the attached room which you are free to use whenever to brew your potions. The password is written there" he pointed to an area near the bottom of the parchment, "and magically encrypted so only you can read it."

"Oh a concealing charm," Ascella said fascinated. She'd read about them and how they were used on high security documents, they behaved much like the Fidelus charm only on parchment. Flitwick's eyes shone with pride at her knowledge of what it was.

"Exactly! Now you are all set to get to work. And keep me informed!" he said before walking away with a smile.

"What was that about?" Kevin asked as they continued on to History of Magic.

"Nothing," she said, still unable to keep the smile from her face. She couldn't wait to get started.

Later that day she was in a decidedly less cheerful mood. She was down on the Quidditch pitch, at her first Quidditch practice, and freezing. The longer she was there the more she was wondering why she'd even bothered trying out. Apparently being a reserve meant she didn't get to practice with the team; she wasn't much more than a water girl. She'd been there over an hour and had yet to get on her broom. After she'd been introduced to the rest of the team: Chasers in addition to Roger Davies, Randolph Burrow and Jeremy Stretton, the beaters, Jason Samuels and Duncan Inglebee, keeper, Grant Page, and seeker, Cho Chang, she'd spent the practice on the ground, being ordered about by Davies. Chang was the only one who smiled and looked genuinely pleased to see her; the rest either smirked at her and whispered to each other or ignored her completely. Chang was also the only other girl on the team aside from Ascella. Ascella might have thought all reserves were treated like her if it weren't that the other reserve, a skinny 2nd year, was currently shadowing Chang on seeker drills.

She finally got up in the air with only five minutes left and she had a feeling it was only to help track down the balls to put them away. Only Chang smiled in sympathy and offered to help her wrangle the blighters into the chest.

Ten minutes later, both girls were sweating and breathing heavy as they slammed the lid closed on the bludgers they'd finally wrangled in. They caught eyes then and busted up laughing, the relief at the effort bonding them.

"Thanks," Ascella said to the older girl, going to the left side to carry the box. Chang took the other side and they heaved it up.

"No problem. I know how the boys can be," she said.

"Oh yeah you were a reserve last year right?" Ascella asked.

But before Chang could respond Davies came out, freshly showered and grinning at the sight of them.

"Ladies," he winked. "Black, great practice. You looked great out there." Ascella was too stunned to respond, she hadn't _done_ anything, except act like a servant, but Chang wasn't too stunned to respond.

"Bugger off, Davies. Leave the girl alone." she said, tone confident and sure. Davies just winked at her but he did move off.

"What is _with_ him?" Ascella finally asked once they'd finally put the chest away. "Why have me make the team if he's not even going to let me practice?" Ascella knew she wasn't the greatest Quidditch player but how did he expect her to get better if he never played her?

The small Asian girl smiled in sympathy as they began their way back up to the castle. Only once did Ascella pull her attention away from Chang when she could have sworn she'd seen a large four-legged animal moving across the shadowed lawn near them, but when Chang spoke again, all thoughts of what it could be were pushed out of her mind. "Don't worry," Chang said "The same thing happened to me last year. Davies isn't a complete prat but..." she trailed off, as if looking for the best way to describe him. "He's also a teenage boy," she settled on.

Ascella hurumped. She knew what 'teenage boy' stood for; big-headed, think-boys-better-than-girls-at-sport, and pretty-girls-are-made-for-their-viewing-pleasure.

"So I only got on the team 'cause I'm pretty?" Ascella asked, more annoyed at this than she wanted to let on.

Chang made a face and nodded. "Most likely. I was reserve last year and it started out just like you this year," she said. "Come on," she added then in the Entrance Hall, nodding towards the Great Hall. "Main dinner is over but Davies has talked the elves into keeping a bit out on our Quidditch practice nights. And I'm starving!"

Ascella wasn't hungry but she did join the girl, just glad that it looked like the boys on the team had already been through. In the mood she was in she didn't want to know what she might do or say to them. She might have been surprised by the amount of food Chang was pilling on her plate - surely the no more than 100 pound girl wasn't going to eat _all_ of that - but she was too focused on the injustice of it all. She'd rather have never made the team if this was the real reason she'd made it on. Then she remembered that Chang was the starting seeker this year and she turned to the older girl to ask "How'd you get onto the team for real, then?"

Chang swallowed a particularly large bite and said, "I practiced. After practice, before school, on the weekends, on holidays. That way when I got my opportunity I was ready for it and was able to beat out everyone else." Ascella was impressed. That sounded like a lot of work and she wasn't sure how badly she actually wanted to prove herself. She'd never really had to work for anything in her life, save Herbology but even with that, her superior memorization skills kept her afloat if her ineptness kept her from excelling in practicals.

The girls spent the rest of dinner in companionable silence and when it came time to head back up to Ravenclaw tower Ascella split off from Chang on the 5th floor telling her she was headed to Gryffindor Tower not Ravenclaw.

"Oh," Chang asked curious, "do you go to Gryffindor common room often?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Probably there more than Ravenclaw to be honest. It's more fun over there. And easier to get into." Ascella leaned in and finished in a conspiratorial tone, " _They only have a password!_ " Chang giggled.

"But I like the riddles," she did protest with a smirk.

Ascella made a loud noise of disbelief, adamantly shaking her head.

"Chang. I don't know if we can be friends anymore. At first I thought you were cool but now..."

"Oh shut it," she said with a warm smile. "Just go on your way. And say hi to Potter for me - he _is_ why you are going there right?" she asked the last sounding for the first time a little less self-assured than before. Interesting, Ascella thought.

"Yes, Harry is the reason I'm off to Gryffindor," she said. "But I am curious - how you know him?" she added, watching Chang's face.

"Oh- well everyone knows who he is don't they?" Chang hedged. Ascella raised an eyebrow at her. Chang sighed, pursed her lips as if annoyed but the faint tinge of pink in her cheeks said otherwise, and not meeting Ascella's eyes continued. "Well he's an ace Seeker, isn't he? Never seen someone fly like him." She said the last with a far off look in her eye. Ascella was silent, before she burst out laughing.

"Oh just wait until I tell Harry!" she crowed. Alarmed, Chang turned to her.

"Oh don't you dare! Please. It's not like I'm crushing or anything. Well maybe a Quidditch crush but even you must admit he's bloody brilliant!" Ascella only laughed harder but did eventually promise to not mention why Chang wanted her to say hi to Harry.

Up in Gryffindor common room, Ascella found Harry attempting to write an essay for Snape that was due the next day. He looked up upon seeing her and smiled.

"How'd it go?" he asked. She slumped down in the chair across from him at the table.

"Davies only let me on the team 'cause I'm pretty."

" _What_?" Harry asked, speaking slowly as that information worked its way through his brain. "But that's - that's sexist!"

"Yeah. I know."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Dunno. Quit I s'pose."

Harry put his quill down with so much force it smeared ink over his half-finished essay. Ascella waved away the damage with her wand before it had a chance to sink into the parchment and really ruin his work.

"No," he said with as much force as he'd set the quill down with, his eyes intense behind his glasses, as they bored into her. "You can't quit."

"Oh? And why not?" Ascella challenged.

"You have to show him you can do it, that you _deserve_ to be on that team."

"But I don't! I'm not gifted at Quidditch like you! I'm not even passable really."

"No," Harry conceded. "But you could still be a decent player, even a really good player; you are smart, not nonathletic and let's face it you have a competitive streak in you."

"I do not!"

Harry raised an eyebrow at her and said, "I've played Exploding Snap with you 'Cella."

"Right. Point taken." Ascella sat back in her chair and sighed. She didn't feel like arguing about this more so she tried for a compromise. "Alright I'll keep with it through the week at least and then I'll decide."

"Good," Harry nodded with the air that he was sure she would be see sense and come around to his way of thinking. He turned back to continue his essay when Ascella decided it was the opportune moment to bring up Chang.

"So Cho Chang asked me to say hi to you for her," she said in an offhand sort of way. She'd waited until Harry was dipping his quill in his ink pot. At her words Harry jerked his hand and knocked over the whole pot. Alarmed he quickly tried to blot it up, while Ascella laughed.

Harry tried to cover himself by glaring at her and casually asking, "Oh? Chang is Ravenclaw's new seeker, right?"

"Yes," she said, finding immense joy in how suddenly uncomfortable her friend was. She dropped the topic though because Hermione and Ron came in then, loudly arguing about how it was she was managing to go to all her lessons, in between Ron complaining about Crookshanks not leaving his rat Scabbers alone.

Ascella sent Hermione a look of sympathy when they joined them at their table. Hermione had finally gotten around to showing Ascella her Time Turner a few weeks ago and Ascella had been thoroughly impressed and nerded out, even if Hermione refused to give her a demonstration or let her try it out herself.

Ascella bid her friends good night shortly after as they all were going to be finishing up their homework. When Hermione asked why she wasn't finishing up her Runes translation, Ascella had scoffed and told her breakfast would be an excellent time to finish that up, if she bothered as she'd already verbally translated it upon being assigned the translation. No what she wanted to do was get back to her research.

She'd made it all the way to the entrance to her common room before she realized she hadn't really thought this through; she was standing in front of the Ravenclaw door knocker and she was alone. Sighing she reached forward and knocked the metal ring. The bird opened it's mouth and said, "Though by your craft I be constrained / And heart's desire thou each hast gained / Strive as ye will to hold it fast / To me ye must return at last."

"Well fuck me," Ascella swore. But then she thought for a minute, not on the riddle per say but on where she had heard it before for it sounded familiar. And then she remembered; it was a riddle from the children's tale The Three Brothers.

"Death!" she said triumphantly.

"Very good. You are getting better. I see I will have to have harder ones from now on," the bird said to Ascella before opening the door. Ascella's joy at getting the riddle right deflated at those words though and she glumly entered the common room. She glanced around once, but didn't find any of her friends awake and so she went into her corner and set up camp, not going to bed until the early hours of the morning.

This pattern continued for much of the rest of the week and before Ascella knew it she was at her last Quidditch practice of the week. She'd suffered through two others since the first and was more determined than ever to quit, despite how well she was getting on with Chang, but on Friday's practice that all changed. The day had been sunny and unseasonably warm for mid to late October and she had just returned with another refill of the water jug. She lugged it along and was sweating so profusely that she had long since removed her pullover and was in a formfitting tank top, one she usually never wore in public as it left little to the imagination of her growing curves. She had been so focused on her task that she hadn't been aware of all the stares she was recieving and wolf-whistles even from the guys who had previously only ignored her presence. And even all that she might have been able to handle but then Davies "accidentally" knocked the jug of water onto her shirtfront and the cold water slashed across her chest and stomach, making her shirt almost see through. At the resulting laughter Ascella lost it. She pulled her wand out and spoke, hexing all the laughing boys with a tongue gagging spell, before she marched up to Davies and told him if he didn't let her practice like a normal member of the team then she'd make their lives miserable and finish out with going to the school and making sure he was stripped of his captaincy and right to play Quidditch at all for harassment.

He was gagging and spitting around his tongue so much that Ascella could barely hear him concede to let her practice, but concede he did, a pleading look in his eyes. When she lifted the curse, he mumbled, "Sheesh, only trying to have a bit of fun." She gagged his tongue again.

Cho sent her a large smile and said, "Nice one!" which made Ascella feel better. She released the rest of the boys from the spell then, if reluctantly, it was rather entertaining to see a bunch of 'teenage boys' spazing out and hacking and spitting on their tongues, and alternatively glaring at her/throwing fearful looks her way instead of leering.

After practice, she and Cho headed up to the castle, laughing and reenacting what had gone down on the pitch. The girls had grown close over the last week, bonding over Quidditch - they'd discovered after the second practice that they were both vehement supporters of the Tornadoes - and being the only girls on the team.

"And his face!" Cho said, hands gesturing wildly. "He was shocked. I don't even think he knows that spell. And if he does he couldn't put it on that many people at the same time!"

"Bloody git deserved it! They all did!" Ascella laughed with her, as they entered the Great Hall. That night Ascella was for once starved just like Cho. Ascella had learned that for a small girl Cho could still pack it away and now she knew why; Quidditch really did work up an appetite.

"So what are you going to do now?" Cho asked, once they'd worked about halfway through their overflowing plates.

"Don't know," Ascella said scooping up some more mashed potatoes onto her plate. "Probably need to figure out which position I'm any good at and then work at that, 'til I can prove I'm good enough to be on the team for real. Like you did."

"As long as that position is not seeker," Cho threatened, pointing at Ascella with her streak knife. Ascella laughed.

"I don't think seeker is for me but I'll still give it a go. Maybe Harry can help me out with it tomorrow..." Ascella trailed off, making a note to mention the idea to her friend when she saw him later that night.

"Oh Potter? Why don't you ask me?" Cho asked.

Ascella raised an eyebrow.

"Do you want to help me out? Or get a chance to check out Harry's flying ability?" she asked.

"You of course!"

"*cough* - bullshit - *cough*."

"Oh shut up," And so that was how Ascella found herself making her way down to the Quidditch Pitch at midday the following day with Cho to meet up with Harry, both of their brooms over their shoulders.

When they arrived Harry was already there, circling the Pitch and performing effortless moves as he darted after the snitch. They watched him catch the snitch a few times, unknown to him, Cho with her mouth slightly open and saying things like, "Wow! How does he do it? It's so effortless for him. Was that a Kellan Feint? That's a really advanced move!" until Ascella finally shouted "Oy! Potter!" and waved her friend down.

He landed, windblown and smiling, his hair even more disorderly than usual. Ascella had side french braided her own hair to keep it looking nice.

"Alright 'Cella?" Harry said to her.

"Oh can't complain," she said, before turning to introduce Cho. "Harry this is Cho Chang. She wanted to help out today too."

The minute Harry turned to the pretty fourth year though Ascella knew they were in trouble. Cho smiled widely and said "Hullo Harry. Nice to finally meet you. Your flying is really something!" and Harry just stared down at her, his mouth slightly open. He stared so long Cho was starting to shift like she was worried she'd said something wrong when Ascella decided to take pity on her friend.

"Harry's a bit tired," she explained. "He got beat thoroughly last night by moi in Exploding Snap. It's still smarting."

"Is not," Harry protested, mouth snapping shut, and breaking him out of his revere. After that they were able to practice with some semblance of normalcy. Harry only stuttered once or twice while he and Cho explained to Ascella the basics of seeker, but once he was on his broom, it was like he was a whole new person, confident and normal again. The three of them had fun, Harry even giving Cho some pointers, while Ascella quickly found that no seeker was not her position. Cho had to leave around three to meet with a potions study group but Ascella and Harry stayed out until the sun started to set. They may have determined that Ascella wasn't going to be a seeker but she still needed to get better at flying too so Ascella had talked Harry into running her through some flying drills to help her out with that.

When they finally landed Ascella found she was tired and sore in places she hadn't even known could be sore, but feeling hopeful and accomplished all at the same time.

"Keep at it and you really will prove yourself!" Harry told her as they made their slow way back up to the castle.

"Yeah? Well tell that to my bum, will ya? I think it's bruised," she pouted, rubbing it gingerly. Harry just laughed.

"You'll get used to that. Like riding a bike. The more you do it, the less sore you are."

"A what?"

"Oh. Muggle thing."

"Right. So what do you think of Cho?" Ascella asked changing the subject. His flaming cheeks and ducked head said it all; Harry had a crush!

"Oh. Well she's quite nice, isn't she?" Ascella couldn't hide her grin.

"Yes. N _ice_. And quite pretty too, don't you think?"

"Very!" Harry all but sighed before catching himself. "I mean, yes. If you notice that sort of thing."

Ascella's only response was to smile mischievously to herself.

"What?" Harry asked, catching her smile, eyes narrowing, suspicious.

"Oh nothing," she said. She was going to continue when she cut off and stopped walking at the sight of something large looming in the shadows. "What was that?" she asked her hand grabbing Harry's arm.

"What?" Harry looked around and froze too, his face going pale. She swore she caught sight of a pair of eyes glowing in the rising moonlight and then it was gone.

"That - that dog?" she questioned, looking at Harry.

"Oh you saw it too!" Harry said, sounding far too much relieved at this news.

"Yes... I've been seeing it all week on my way back from practices."

"Me too! I'm so relieved you've been seeing it too. I thought I was going crazy."

"Why?"

"I thought it was -" Harry shifted uncomfortable here and cleared his throat. Lowering his voice he continued. "Well truth be told, I saw something like it near Private Drive and well - I thought it might be the grim."

Ascella stared open-mouthed at Harry. For a second, then five, then she burst out laughing.

"Oh Harry," she said through her laughter, moving off for the castle.

"What?" he said, struggling to keep up.

"You are not going to die anytime soon," she explained as they entered the Entrance Hall.

"Says you."

"Please. Says everyone. You are The Boy Who Lived. It'll take more than a grim to kill you."

"Thanks 'Cella," Harry said, entering for dinner in the Great Hall, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You really know how to reassure a bloke."

"Your welcome!" she responded cheerily. Harry rolled his eyes but he did look better, at least he wasn't worrying about his mortality and she'd kept him distracted enough to not bring up Sirius Black, the man hunting him that he seemed to be convinced might succeed. Ascella had been too distracted recently between research, detention, and Quidditch practices that she'd been distracted from thoughts of her father. He hadn't left her thoughts completely but at least she'd stopped being consumed by it. Staying up late doing her research ensured she fell asleep immetiately and was too tired to dream, though she still jolted awake at least one night a week from a nightmare about her father.

She was further distracted from any thoughts of her father by the announcement of the first Hogsmeade visit the following week; it was to be on the Saturday of Halloween. While she was sad that Harry couldn't go, she was looking forward to the break and the chance to get out of the castle. Harry not being able to go, though, offered up the opportunity to catch up with Kevin. Between her research, hanging with Harry, and Quidditch, she and Kevin hadn't had a chance to talk, the last time they'd spoken intimately had been before her first Lupin detention at the beginning of the month when he'd asked how she was doing with her dad and all. It had been a very brief conversation but it meant a lot to her that he'd cared enough to ask.

She ended up leaving a downcast Harry behind with a promise to bring him something back, before bundling up and heading out of the castle with Kevin and Aaron. Ascella had originally imagined it being just her and Kevin but of course in reality she knew that wasn't feasible, that where Kevin was, Aaron was never far away. It was much like Harry and Ascella between lessons and at night, though she and Harry still had time apart.

The three of them were having a good time as they braved the windy fall day on the walk to the village, mucking about and laughing when as they grew close Ascella asked what they wanted to do.

"Don't know," Aaron mused. "Best check out the joke shop I bet. Oh! And the Three Broomsticks! Everyone's bound to head there at some point and maybe we'll run into _Megan Jones_ ," he teased with a look at Kevin. Ascella narrowed her eyes.

"Who in Merlin's name is Megan Jones?" Ascella asked more perturbed than she was willing to admit.

"This Hufflepuff Kevin thinks is fit!" Aaron crowed.

"Do not!" Kevin protested but his tone and the faint blush on his cheeks said otherwise.

Ascella forced a laugh with Aaron at Kevin's expense, while inside her stomach was tying itself in knots.

Ascella didn't know who this girl was but she suddenly hated her. She didn't want it to but this news took much of the lightness and color out of the rest of the day for Ascella. She was able to laugh a bit and enjoy the day, picking up some sweets and joke prank items for Harry, but she was unable to recapture the high hopes she'd had for the day leading up to it.

Returning to the castle, Ascella didn't waste a minute in leaving Kevin and Aaron behind and going in search of Harry. She found him at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione.

"Ascella!" he greeted her with a smile.

"Alright Harry?" she asked. "What did you get up to?"

"Just had tea with Lupin and..." and Harry went on to describe what had happened in Lupin's office when Snape had shown up. She about spat out her swig of pumpkin juice when he told them about the goblet Snape had brought in.

"Did he tell you what it was?" she asked.

"No. Why?"

"Oh just curious," she replied and then effectively changed the subject by dropping in his lap all that she'd bought for him.

The rest of the feast passed with the usual festivity and cheer. It wasn't until after that everything got interesting. Ascella was on her way, sleepy and full, back to Gryffindor Tower with Harry when they met with a huge group of Gryffindors crowded up outside the Portrait hole.

"What's going on?" Ascella asked Harry.

"Dunno," he replied trying to see above the crowd. Ascella didn't know what good that would do, she was still taller than Harry, if only just, but it soon became apparent what had happened even without being able to see.

The Fat Lady wasn't in her frame, the front of the portrait ripped. Professor's Dumbledore and McGonagall soon arrived as well as Peeves. It was Peeves that finally told them all what had happened; the Fat Lady had been attacked by Sirius Black.

Ascella's knees gave out at that news. If Harry hadn't been right next to her she don't know what would have happened. She knew she wouldn't have been able to make it back down to the Great Hall. As it was she didn't know what was going on around her. She was numb to the world, paralyzed with fear. Sirius Black, her _f_ _ather_ , had made it into the castle, had attacked the Fat Lady in an attempt to get into Gryffindor Tower. _How_? _Why_?

She became aware of her surroundings sometime around midnight, finding herself in a sleeping bag, in a corner with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It seemed that Harry had done what he could to shield her from the scrutiny of the rest of the school, who even now were throwing glances her way as they whispered to each other for which she was grateful. Ascella leaned into Harry's shoulder as he, Hermione, and Ron whispered about what had happened. He put his arm around her and she buried her face into his chest.

"You okay?" he whispered to her after Ron and Hermione had grown silent, finally falling asleep.

"I don't know," she mumbled. He gave her a squeeze and then he too fell asleep, not waking until around 3 when the teachers and prefects came back and said that Black hadn't been found. She was glad he got to sleep because she didn't sleep at all, staring at the cloudy covered sky above of the Great Hall. Black had gotten into the castle, she could have _seen_ him; she doubted she'd get a good night's sleep again, not until he was caught.

* * *

 **a/n: poor 'Cella; sexist Quidditch players (don't worry Davies'll grow out of it), an unrequited crush :.(, and now her deranged (but not really) father decides to get into the castle. Life just isn't going well.**

 **Drop me a line to let me know how you think 3rd year is going so far (I'm starting to realize I'm trying to pack a lot into this year so let me know if you think some story line or friendship isn't getting the attention it should) and thanks to all of you who review!**


	26. Chapter 26

**a/n: Happy Holidays for whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year (or just happy days if you don't celebrate any!)! And enjoy the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: JK Rowling is the true mastermind behind this**

* * *

 **November 1993**

November was here and there was nothing bright about it. Ascella hated everything and everyone. Except Harry but even with him she was short tempered and short with. He just didn't understand, he tried but he just _couldn't_. His father was dead and a bloody hero besides, while hers was alive and a deranged murderer, escaped from Azkaban out to kill Harry and no doubt anyone who stood in his way. Harry was lucky his father was dead; better that then alive and crazy like hers. Then again his father probably would have been wonderful. The world worked in nasty ways sometimes, nasty and unfair ways, to let her father still live and take away Harry's.

Her Ravenclaw friends didn't know what to do with her and she didn't let them anywhere near her. Terry ended up being the only one she was still nice to, but that was mostly because he was so kind, helpful and understanding that she couldn't be mean. Aaron and Kevin just avoided talking about anything serious, especially after Ascella had shunned Kevin when he'd attempted to (she was still angry about the whole thinking ' _Megan Jones is fit'_ thing), so she was still able to be around them for short periods of time. But mostly for the beginning weeks of November she found herself sitting moodily beside Harry as he tried and failed to cheer her up while still continuing to shield her from the rest of the school's scrutiny, which had only gotten worse since word of who'd gotten into the castle and attacked the Fat Lady had spread. Ascella would have been in detention till well after the New Year for hexing and/or cursing people if it wasn't for Harry who stayed her hand. As it was she still ended up losing Ravenclaw over 40 points in the first week of November alone.

It didn't help that the only way she got a good night's sleep was when she brewed herself dreamless sleep in the N.E.W.T level potions room but she couldn't do that every night lest someone notice which ingredients were consistently going missing and make the connection to what potion they were most likely being used to make. On the nights she couldn't get that she either didn't sleep or woke in cold sweats from nightmares. The nightmares were mostly the same as before, but longer and worse now, alternating between her being chased by her father, or the image of herself becoming her father. One of them had even gone so far as to show her murdering Harry. Those nightmares were the worst, especially when she had spent the night in Harry's dorm. And after those types of sleepless nights she was even more short tempered than usual and much more likely to receive a detention.

One of those detentions came from Thursday's Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. Lupin was out and Snape was subbing. The full moon had been the previous night, that knowledge still managing to slip through the annoyance Ascella felt for everything else at the moment and only succeeded in making her even more moody; she'd been keeping up with her research but her mood had fallen into even that aspect of her life and despite her efforts she wasn't yet able to successfully brew Wolfsbane in the private N.E.W.T level room let alone get a chance to experiment.

Ascella spent the first ten minutes glaring at the greasy slimball Potions professor, her chair pushed way back from the desk, her elbow on the desk with her hand holding her head up. She was alone at her table because, for some reason, Harry was late. When she'd asked Ron about it he said the last he'd seen their friend he was being detained by Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The burly seventh year had been detaining Harry at any time he could since they'd found out earlier that week that Hufflepuff would be playing Gryffindor in the opening game of the Quidditch season instead of Slytherin because Malfoy was still too "injured" (Ascella had called bullshit on that when she'd heard, and for the fact that Hufflepuff was still scheduled to play Ravenclaw not more than a week later).

She almost spoke up when Harry finally arrived and refused to sit down as he questioned Snape, losing himself 10 points for Gryffindor for being 10 minutes late as he tried to find out why Snape was teaching but Harry did eventually sit down. She couldn't keep quiet however when told to turn to page 394.

"WHAT?" Ascella said slamming her book shut upon seeing that on top of page 394 was a drawn depiction of a wizard going through the transformation into a werewolf. She proceeded to glare up at Snape, who looked to be positively gloating as he looked back at her.

"Yes, _Miss_ Black?" he sneered. Ascella returned his gaze with a dark glare and had opened her mouth to retort when Hermione spoke up.

"Excuse me, Professor, but we aren't due to start studying werewolves for a couple months yet. We are supposed to be starting Hinkypunks - "

"I think _I_ will be telling you what you will be studying for the day," Snape cut her off.

"Bastard," Ascella said under her breath but not quiet enough.

"Detention, I think, Miss Black," Snape said a gleam in his eye. Ascella sent a rude gesture at his back that made Harry and Ron snort with laughter, which they covered with coughs as Snape turned back around, while Hermione berated with an, "Ascella!" as Ascella schooled her face into an innocent expression.

Turned out Ascella wasn't the only one to earn a detention that class, nor was that the only detention she would receive. Ron earned one for defending Hermione when she correctly answered a question for Snape and he still took points for being a "know-it-all" (only Ron and Ascella were allowed to call Hermione that!). And Ascella earned herself another detention for complaining about the "essay" he assigned on werewolves due next class. She knew what he was doing and she flat refused. Harry was just as annoyed but he didn't know why she was so _very_ annoyed; she had kept her promise to Lupin and not told her best friend no matter how much she wanted to.

After, Snape kept Ron and Ascella back to tell them they would serve that night's detention in the Hospital Wing, cleaning the bed pans. Without magic. Ascella was to do it two nights in a row. She stayed back a moment more, sending Ron on ahead.

"I know what you are doing," she said fiercely to Snape. He smirked at her.

"Whatever do you mean, Black?"

"You want someone to figure it out about him - about Professor Lupin - you want them to find out and complain to their parents and get him kicked out."

"Well aren't you just so... _bright_ ," he curled his lip as if the thought was disgusting. "Figured it out all on your own. And then you went around me to get permission to use the N.E.W.T. potions room to help him out, didn't you?"

"Of course I did. He deserves better than his lot in life. And I want you to know that I will personally make sure no one does the werewolf assignment if I have to jinx them to make sure they don't. He is the best professor we've ever had and a jealous Potions professor isn't going to ruin that for us - or him."

"Defending Lupin. How - _charming_ ," he sneered sounding like it was anything but. "And 20 points from Ravenclaw, I think, for threatening students. And consider yourself in detention for the rest of the week."

"Whatever," Ascella scoffed, turning to leave and calling over her shoulder, "As long as no one else finds out."

She couldn't help but think that any amount of detentions - no matter how gross they were - was worth it as long as she stood up for what was right. Oh boy, she best not tell Fawley, she couldn't help but think, thinking of their ongoing debate about human morality. The debate had begun a few day previous in Divination and was about their disagreement on the point that all people never did anything nice for others without an ulterior motive. Fawley was on the side that of course people did nice things without an ulterior motive, while Ascella was arguing adamant for the side that no one did, even him. This instance, her ending up in detention by standing up for Lupin, was an example for Fawley's side, not her own, and would be best not mentioned to him lest he get a big head for, perhaps, being right. Regardless of who was winning the debate, Fawley and Ascella had cemented their friendship.

The next day Ascella overheard Hannah Abbot in Potions telling anyone who would listen that Sirius Black could turn into a flowering plant and that's how he managed to get into the castle and remain undetected on the night of Halloween.

"Honestly," Ascella curled her lip, sneering at the girl, disgust all over her face, and her voice loud enough to be heard over the bubbling of cauldrons. "A _flowering plant_. Really? As if Voldemort's greatest supporter would deign to turn himself into a flowering plant? I mean _really_ , that's the _best_ you could come up with?" Her acid tone and cold gray eyes had Hannah Abbot shrinking away from her and cowering in the safety of the other Hufflepuffs in a matter of seconds.

"Ascella," Terry warned. Ascella deflated a bit and looked away from Hannah. She may have turned away but she was still very much annoyed. How dare anyone spread such ridiculous rumors about him, especially within earshot of her?

"Black, don't you think that was a bit unfair?" Gabriel Fawley bravely said to her. The Hufflepuff had taken over Padma's usual place in sharing a work station with her and Terry after Ascella had become so distant from the rest of her Ravenclaw friends. And when Padma had decided Aaron and Kevin were more fun than her and Terry. Aaron had almost ended up moving to join them, to the disappointment of Padma, but Fawley beat him to it. Ascella and Gabriel Fawley had arrived to Potions together that day, having been well involved in one of their long winded debates on human morality while on the way to Potions after lunch (she had finally been conned into admitting to how she'd ended up in detention for Snape and Fawley was now self-righteously (in Ascella's mind) telling Ascella that, "see even you are bound to do things without thinking of the consequences to yourself" you meaning Ascella in this instance - and unfortunately, in this instance, even Ascella was struggling to come up with a counter argument), so Fawley had just followed Ascella right up to her table and ended up joining her and Terry at their Potions station to continue the discussion right up to class starting and thus he ended up staying there with her and Terry. As such they had fast become friends and say what you will about Hufflepuffs but they had more courage than people gave them credit for; turned out Fawley was one of the few people that would ever dare stand up to Ascella, even while she was in one of her moods. He was showing that bravery in standing up to her now.

Ascella shot Fawley a disparaging look, a look that would have made most people cringe but he merely returned it with a wry look at her; he seemed to have learned that with some people (the some people that he'd learned included himself) her bark was worse than her bite.

"Flowering _plant_ , is being a bit unfair," she said to him. "Really _terrifying_. I can see the headline now: 'Mass-Murderer Sirius Black turns into Flowering potted plant'. Honestly, I always want to deny my father is my father but I might be even more embarrassed to share genes with him for turning into a flowering plant than for all the murdering."

Fawley snorted to cover a laugh, while Terry gave Ascella a hard look.

But perhaps Ascella should have just kept her mouth shut because by dinner there was a rumor that someone within the castle was helping Sirius Black gain entrance to the school and that someone was _her_. Fawley was the one who headed her off in the Entrance Hall and gave her warning about it.

"Malfoy overheard Hannah telling Megan what had happened in Potions - she must have overheard us talking after you snapped at her - and well - it sort of escalated before I could get them to stop." Ascella narrowed her eyes. Of course it was Malfoy who was circulating the rumor but then something he said registered in her brain.

"Wait, Megan _Jones_?" she asked. "You're friends with her?"

"Sort of. My best mates are Oliver Rivers and Wayne Hopkins but Ollie gets on well with Megan. They are the ones that sit with your friend Entwhistle in Divination."

So _that_ was who Megan Jones was. She thanked Fawley for the heads up but turned back a moment later.

"Wait - is Jones the blond one or the brunette?" she asked having just remembered that Kevin sat with two girls in addition to Rivers in Divination and she didn't know which one was which.

"The brunette," Fawley said slowly. "Why?"

"No reason," she said with what could only be described as a voice intent with every reason. "Also why'd you give me a heads up? About the Malfoy rumor I mean."

Fawley shrugged. "You're a friend. But even if you weren't you don't deserve all the crap people have been spewing out about you. It's not your fault who your dad is."

"I -" Ascella didn't quite know what to say. "I - thanks," she settled on, touched more than she was willing to admit. Maybe she was wrong about Hufflepuffs. Maybe people really could be nice just for the sake of being kind. Not that she'd admit it out loud - didn't want Fawley to get a big head for defending the right side in their debate, did she.

Fawley gave her one of his boy next door smiles in response and a "No worries," before he left to enter the Great Hall.

Shortly thereafter, Ascella found herself next to Harry at the Gryffindor Table. She was glaring at the girl she now knew to be Megan Jones while she attempted to eat; she was actually mostly stirring the food around on her plate with her fork. The girl she was staring at was the girl that had drawn Kevin away from her table in Divination, the one who'd touched his arm. Ascella moodily ripped off some meat from a drumstick with her teeth while Harry watched her nervously, most likely waiting for her to explode about all the rumors swirling around but she was too focused on the brunette at the Hufflepuff table to care about the rumors.

"You okay 'Cella?" Harry finally asked.

"No," she said dropping her food to the plate with a loud clatter. "I mean really what does he _see_ in her?" she asked gesturing at the girl, her eyes never leaving her. Harry followed her gaze. He took a while trying to figure out who she was talking about.

"Er - Hannah Abbot?" he asked.

"No. The brunette next to her."

"Justin Finch-Fletchley?"

"The girl, Harry!"

"Oh. Who's that?"

"Megan _Jones_. Kevin thinks she's _fit_. Don't know why though. I'm much prettier than her!" And while Ascella might be slightly biased (she was comparing someone to herself) she, in truth, genuinely was prettier - Aaron's description of her being "quite stunning" earlier in the year was quite accurate. Ascella didn't usually want to care about all that but if Kevin thought _she_ , Megan Jones, was fit than he _had_ to think she, Ascell Black, was fit too.

"Well, yeah, you're easily the best looking girl in the year. But as for the whole Kevin thing - " Harry tried to give advice, sounding very much like he wanted to be having any conversation but this one. "I don't know. This Jones is a Hufflepuff. Maybe he likes nice girls."

"I'm nice!" Ascella said, looking at him indignantly.

Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

"Fine," she sighed. "I guess I can admit she might be a tad - just a tad mind you - nicer than me. But I'm more fun, right?"

"Of course 'Cella. You wouldn't be my best mate if you weren't."

"Good. Nice is overrated anyway," Ascella pouted into her potatoes. Still she felt better, if only a bit. "Wanna get out of here?" she asked Harry then.

Harry nodded and they headed out. Only to be met with Malfoy at the door, his cronies Crabbe and Goyle flanking him.

"Leading Potter to your father?" he drawled with a slimy grin for her. "Now that you are working with him and all."

"Watch it, Malfoy," Ascella said stepping up to him threatening. Harry just managed to grab the back of her robes, though he looked anything but calm.

"Give it a rest, Malfoy," he glared at Malfoy.

"Has she already indoctrinated you too?" Malfoy turned to Harry. "You going to just hand yourself over to 'The Blacks'? Make it easy for them?"

"What is going on here?" came the voice of an older student then. Ascella didn't bother raising her eyes from the snake in front of her but Harry groaned upon looking up, so only she could hear.

"Anyone but him," he muttered. "Hope Oliver isn't around or he'll yell at me for 'fraternizing with the enemy'."

Ascella was curious now about the student, who could only be a prefect to have so stopped Malfoy's attack, but she didn't look up, eyes still on Malfoy.

"Nothing, Diggory," Malfoy said in an oily voice that left much to be desired of him being respectful. But even so he left still, Crabbe and Goyle sloping along after him. Ascella jerked her robes out of Harry's grip and fixed the front of them so they fell down her front correctly again, while she glared after the Slytherins.

"Everything alright?" the prefect asked them, his voice soft and kind.

"Yes, yes," Ascella waved him off and dragged Harry away, only briefly glancing up at the prefect, who's gray eyes were watching her more than Harry, before dragging Harry along after her.

"I'm going to kill him, Harry," Ascella said to Harry as they made their way up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Best not," he said. "Don't want you to end up expelled and in Azkaban. I really don't have the time to train a new best mate - between the practices Wood has set, school, other friends - there's just no time."

Ascella stopped, at first offended until she caught Harry's grin, his green eyes flashing with mischief and remembered she had said something very similar to him the previous year. She playfully hit him, but he darted out of the way, laughing.

"Urgh." Ascella half pouted, half grinned. "Well at least you are growing in your sense of fun."

"All because of you 'Cella, all because of you," Harry winked.

"Hey, nervous about the match?" Ascella asked once they were settled up in Gryffindor common room. Harry had been doing a star chart for Astronomy (well copying Ascella's because she'd filled hers out in about five seconds at the end of their previous theo class, having been drilled in the stars since she was young), while Ascella was reading through the notes for the Wolfsbane Potion Meda had finally sent back with Ezzy that morning.

Harry grimaced and reached forward to reload his quill up with ink.

"A bit. More just want it to be over so Oliver will leave me alone."

"I hear ya, I had to confund him the last time he tried to come over here. I was able to handle the first 10 times but the eleventh..." Ascella shook her head. Harry laughed.

"Is that why he suddenly turned around and knocked over that first year? I thought he was having a fit or something." Ascella nodded, covering her mouth as she laughed. "Well, thanks for that."

"What are friends for, if not to confund over zealous Quidditch Captains," said Ascella.

"Right you are. Let me know when I can return the favor."

"You know," Ascella mused. "Davies really could use some confunding. Might be funny. Then again it might not be that much different than how he already acts...hmm..."

"Has that gotten any better?" Harry asked, referring to her troubles with the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain.

"Well, he lets me actually practice now. But he mostly ignores me, which honestly is better than being leered at. He's found himself some fourth year Hufflepuff to ogle now," she said before sweeping her hair dramatically over her shoulder. "Even if she isn't as good looking as me."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Course not, Cells. No one is."

"Too rig - wait. Was that sarcasm?"

"Noo."

"Oy!"

"Say, don't you have another detention cleaning bed pans tonight?"

"Damn - I'm going to be late - See you later, Harry. And good luck tomorrow if I don't see you before!" she called darting out the portrait hole.

The next day dawned dark and gloomy, the nasty weather that had begun at the beginning of November worse than ever. Ascella couldn't believe that Harry was going to have to play Quidditch in the gale storm that was raging outside. She tried to find him down at breakfast to wish him good luck again but he'd already headed down to the Quidditch Pitch with the rest of his team. Ascella had spent the night in Ravenclaw and now she didn't know where to sit - she didn't see Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor Table and she felt weird sitting there without any of her friends, but she also didn't want to deal with cheerful Padma, Aaron and Kevin either at the Ravenclaw table, despite Aaron's zealous greeting when he'd spotted her. Luckily, Cho Chang spotted her and hailed her over saving her from her indecision. Ascella sent a faux pained expression of apology to Aaron before going over to gratefully join the older girl.

"Thanks for that," Ascella told her.

"Thought you looked a bit lost," Cho said matter-of-factly. "Besides Davies wants the team to all sit together for the match, even though we'll be lucky to see anything at all. Here have some hot tea. I think we are going to need as much warmth as we can get."

"Ooh good idea. Here pour the tea in these." Ascella transfigured two napkins into large thermoses, and put two heat keeping charms on each of them. "Now we can keep the tea hot even out in the storm outside."

"You are a helpful friend to have, Black," Cho approved pouring tea into the cups. "I don't suppose you have a charm for keeping the rain off us too?"

"As a matter of fact," she said with a grin.

And that was how Ascella ended up sitting with Cho and the rest of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, she and Cho kept dry by Ascella's umbrella charm, her wand held up like the stem of an umbrella. While they were dry they were no less cold than everyone around them though. Ascella was good but she wasn't nearly that good - yet - to keep up both the umbrella charm and the calor heating charm.

"Listen," Cho was telling her just before the two teams exited their locker rooms. "There is a Quidditch Party tonight, to celebrate the kick-off of the season and you just have to come. Do not - I repeat - do not leave me alone with the rest of these boys and the other team members."

"Wait - the other house teams are invited?"

"Of course," Cho said. "All upperclassmen if they are on one of the house teams is invited - and allowed a single guest - to the inter-house Quidditch parties," Cho explained before straightening up at the announcement introducing the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and cheering with the rest as they were announced. Ascella screwed up her face at the last name announced though.

"Did they say Diggory?" she asked, trying to place where she'd heard that name.

"Yes," Cho sighed dreamily. "He's so handsome."

"Right..." Ascella drew out. "But isn't he a prefect?" Cho nodded, the dreamy look still on her face.

"Tall, handsome, a prefect, Quidditch captain. He is quite literally every girls dream bloke," she said.

"Yeah... um - no," Ascella said. "He sounds like a bore."

Cho shot her a look but Ascella was distracted as, finally, the Gryffindor Quidditch team was being announced. She could barely hear Lee Jordan's announcing over the raging wind and rain but she still knew when to scream and cheer loudly for Harry. Even Cho joined in in cheering for him, despite the fact that it would only be detrimental to Ravenclaw's chances if Gryffindor were to win.

"What? He's a good seeker," Cho answered the raised eyebrow look Ascella had sent her way, with merely a shrug.

Once the game started it went from bad to worse. No one could see anything - including the spectators. The only way Ascella was able to know the score was because the Ravenclaw seats were right next to the center box where they were displayed from. Gryffindor was ahead 170 to 70 in favor of Gryffindor and both seekers were racing towards the snitch, Ascella sitting at the edge of her seat. If Gryffindor caught the snitch they would pull way ahead in the Quidditch Cup race but if by some miracle Diggory caught it... well Hufflepuff would win and it would put Gryffindor at a disadvantage in the cup race. And then Ascella felt a sudden coldness sweep over her, chilling her to the bone. _No_ , she had time to think before the world went black.

\- _"Marls! Run! They've found us. Get Asc - " a man's voice screamed in her ear, different than the one from before, that is until he was cut off with an "Avada Kedavra!" and a woman's scream. "NO! Mason!" "Out of the way you stupid bitch." "Wait - look who it is. It's dear cousin Sirius's little whore from school. Crucio" Screaming - screaming that ripped at her core sounded then. "Bella - we don't have time to play. The Order is on its way. Just kill her and let's go." "Fine. Avada Kedavra!" Then silence until - "MACK! Where are you? MACK!" then the slamming open of a door followed by a scream, more howl than cry, followed by the sobbing she had heard before. "Mack, Mack. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." -_

"Ascella! Ascella, please wake up!" Ascella opened her eyes and looked up through blurred vision to see Cho Chang standing over her, rain streaking down her face - Ascella's spell must have stopped working when she passed out - and looking very concerned indeed, though she was the only one. The rest of the team and indeed the rest of the students around them were staring down at the ground, varying looks of horror and confusion on their faces.

"Wha- what happened?" Ascella asked, her hand going to her head, trying to sit up. Cho reached forward to help.

"The match is over, Ascella. Diggory caught the snitch - Hufflepuff won."

"What happened to Harry?" Ascella asked alarmed.

"Well - the Dementors showed up - " Ascella felt all the blood drain from her face - well what little blood still remained there anyway - as her eyes grew wide.

She clutched at Cho's arm. "Please tell me he's okay," she all but begged.

Cho shook her head, her eyes sympathetic. "I - I don't know. He - he fell, Ascella. Off his broom. Dumbledore managed to slow his fall but - " Ascella's head spun. She felt like she was about to pass out again.

Light headed, she asked, "Where - where is he now?"

"Hospital Wing. At least I can only assume. It's been hectic since - Dumbledore was livid that the Dementors came on the field - Diggory missed Harry's fall and was trying to demand a rematch but they won fair and square - "

Cho might have continued to ramble but Ascella cut her off. "I - I need to see him."

"Who? Diggory?"

Ascella might have tried to spare Cho a glare if she hadn't been feeling so disoriented. Instead she settled for a simple response, "No. Harry."

"Oh, right!"

Ascella tried to rise to her feet on shaky legs but she fell back down.

"Here. Eat," Cho handed her some chocolate.

Ascella took a bite and instantly felt warmth spread through her insides. She took another bite before, "Okay. I'm ready now." She successfully rose this time and pushed past Cho, the rest of the team and eventually, somehow, found herself outside the Hospital Wing.

Where she froze.

She couldn't move. She knew she needed to go in but she was scared of what she'd find.

Ascella felt a warm hand on her arm then followed by a person at her side. She looked and found a smiling Cho Chang.

"Come on," she said. "We'll face it together." Ascella swallowed hard and returned Cho's smile with a tentative one of her own.

"Thank you," she said grateful, her voice barely above a whisper.

Inside they found that they were among the first to arrive. Harry wasn't awake yet, but Madame Pompfrey said he should make a full recovery. Ron and Hermione arrived next and shortly after the mud splattered Gryffindor Quidditch team trudged in. Ascella paid little attention to them, only watching Harry as his chest rose and fell in steady breaths, holding his hand in hers.

"I should probably leave," Cho whispered from next to her, so only she could hear. Cho briefly glanced towards the team. "I'm probably not wanted." Ascella nodded. "You'll be alright?" the older girl asked squeezing her shoulder. Ascella nodded again. "Good. And look, if you need a distraction from all this, you really should consider coming to the Quidditch party tonight. It's in an abandoned classroom on the fourth floor and the password is 'Gwenog Jones'"

"Thank you, Cho. I just might take you up on that," she managed a smile for the older girl and then she was gone. Harry woke up shortly after she had left, much to Ascella's relief.

"Harry! Are you alright?" She cut through all the chatter the team had been speaking that she'd not been listening to.

He dazedly nodded and asked them all what had happened – to the game and to his broom – until they were finally told to leave.

Harry looked so sad when they were all ushered out by Madame Pomfrey that Ascella felt loath to leave her friend. She just wanted to do something special for him, find some way to cheer him up after the lose and what had happened to his broom. Then she remembered the invitation Cho had given her and she thought she might just have a way to cheer her friend up.

After stopping in at Ravenclaw, (she followed some fourth years up after dinner) for a shower and to change she headed to Gryffindor and grabbed Harry a change of clothes, before she snuck back down to the Hospital Wing. She waited until she saw Pomfrey back away into her office before she crept in. The room was quiet and dark and Harry looked to already be asleep.

Well that wasn't going to work, she decided. He couldn't go to sleep before nine on a Saturday no matter how early he'd been up nor how stressful his day had been.

"Harry," she hissed gently shaking her friend awake. He started awake, his eyes staring around wildly. He calmed when he put his glasses on and saw who it was. Then he grinned and sat up.

"'Cella, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm here to bust you out."

"What? To go where?"

"Quidditch party," said Ascella simply. But you would have thought she'd asked him the world by the way he dramatically groaned and fell back onto his pillows.

"'Cel-la!" he drew her nickname out. "A Quidditch party is the _last_ place I want to be right now. In case you'd somehow forgotten, I just lost my match and the Whomping Willow decided to take out all its rage on my broomstick."

"Well - okay, I can see where you are coming from on all that but look - it'll be fun! And something different for us. We've never been to a party thrown with the older years yet. The closest we've come has been Fred and George and their friends showing up at my birthday parties."

"No, Ascella," Harry shook his head. "I really don't want to go."

"Cho Chang will be there."

"Really?" Harry brightened, before catching himself and adding, trying to sound cooler, "I mean - really? Why would I care about that?"

"Shut up and get dressed," Ascella said rolling her eyes and throwing him the outfit she'd grabbed for him. He caught the shirt and trousers on reflex.

"My hair though -" he continued to try and protest. Ascela's eye roll was even bigger than before if possible.

"Harry. Your hair is _always_ messy. So that's not an excuse to not go. Cho'll find the messiness endearing if anything. Besides it would be far stranger if you suddenly tried to change it now."

"Fine," Harry grumbled giving in, seeing he was out of counterarguments and Ascella wasn't about to give up anytime soon.

"Yay!"

They arrived to find the party in full swing. drinks flowing, punch spiked already, the Weasley twins comically dancing together while Andreanna Fawley spoke to her friend Declan Hawthourne and somehow dealt with the ridiculousness that was her boyfriend while Angelina Johnson tried to make Fred jealous by dancing sexily with Roger Davies (Ascella did not know if it worked as she had to turn away from the, fairly, disgusting sight - who wanted to dance like that with Roger Davies).

"Wow, so this is what a real party looks like," Ascella looked around appreciatively. She and Harry were walking arm in arm while Harry was subconsciously smoothing the front of his shirt, and looking around nervously. "What is going on, Harry?"

"You sure my shirt looks alright?"

"Yes, Harry. I picked it out so of course it looks alright," she said earning herself the eye roll from him that she'd been aiming for and that she knew would help calm Harry down. Then he froze, stopping so suddenly that Ascella felt her arm get yanked back as she'd kept moving.

"Argh," she grunted, rubbing her now sore arm. She was about to open her mouth and loudly complain to Harry about stopping so suddenly when she saw the look on his face. He was white-faced and staring across the room. She followed his gaze and immediately saw why he was so upset. In a mildly dark corner of the room was Cho Chang but she wasn't alone. Standing, talking to her, his head bowed was a very tall older boy that Ascella could almost place. His back was to them but it was very clear that they were both enjoying the conversation.

"Okay. Not the end of the world," Ascella tried to cheer up Harry.

"Look let's just leave," he said.

"Why? Who is that?"

"Cedric Diggory," Harry said, oh so miserable and defeated sounding. Ascella set her teeth then. _That_ was why he looked familiar. He was the one that had caught the snitch instead of Harry. The one everyone said was so _dreamy_ and _perfect_.

"Oh hell no," Ascella said. "We are not giving up that easily. You are way better than him."

"'Cella, that's nice and all, but let's face it; for today he's won. He won the match, he won the girl. Let's just go."

Ascella stared hard at Harry.

"Now that is not the Harry Potter that I know and pride myself on having as my best mate," Ascella said. "Look he's leaving her to go get some punch for them, I'll take one for the team and head him off - keep him distracted. You," Ascella pushed him towards Cho, "go talk to her! And don't be weird."

"But - but what would I talk about?" he asked her panic and a little bit of hope in his eye.

"Start with Quidditch and see where it goes from there. Now go! Before we miss our window of opportunity!" She gave him another forceful push and quickly crossed the room to where the Hufflepuff seeker was currently pouring a second cup of spiked punch, no doubt to take back to Cho.

And before she could think about the best way to play distraction she swept in and swept up the second glass from Diggory's hand as he was making to leave the punch table. She downed the drink in one swallow, her long blond hair falling back as she threw the drink back. She looked up into the very much surprised and bemused face of Cedric Diggory and with a smile said, "Oh thanks mate! How nice of you."

"Er - that wasn't actually for - " Diggory started. Ascella raised an eyebrow as she refilled the glass, throwing her wavy hair over her shoulder to still look at him. "You know what, doesn't matter," he finished with a small smile of his own.

And then silence, neither one of them saying a thing. Ascella shifted her feet desperately trying to think of something to say. She had loads of male friends but apparently when it came to trying to flirt and distract them she had nothing. And if she didn't think of something fast then Cedric was going to get bored and she would have failed Harry - who by the way looked to actually be hitting it off with Cho - but that would be ruined if she failed and Diggory moved off to steal back Cho's attention.

Luckily though, she didn't have to think of something as after the silence between them had drawn on an exuberant amount of time Diggory took pity on her and said, "You know, I recognize you - you are the girl that so unceremoniously ran into me on the Hogwarts Express." Ascella felt her jaw drop open - if she had been expecting him to say anything it certainly wasn't that. "And then denied it, laying the blame on me," he continued with a warm smile.

"What are you talking ab -" she started but then she remembered the older student she had run into on the train while looking for her fellow Ravenclaw third years. "Oh! That was you? Sorry about that. Bit of a stressful day for me - really the whole summer was, you know whole father escaped from prison thing. I'm Ascella Black by the way."

"Ah, yes that would make for a rather stressful day - summer. And I'm Cedric Diggory."

And they trailed off into silence again. Ascella didn't know what to do, or where to look so she ended up finishing her second cup of punch and refilling the glass again. She was just starting to feel a strange sense of warmth spread through her - she had never had large amounts of alcohol before but if she had to guess she'd say the sweet tasting punch had more in it than she thought and that she was starting to get a bit tipsy.

"Say," Diggory said to her for some reason seeming to be content trying to continue a conversation with her and using his still mostly full glass to point at her. "Aren't you a bit young to be drinking?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

For some reason that comment relaxed Ascella, as she rolled her eyes.

"Last I checked you weren't 17 either."

"Oh, you've checked then?" Diggory asked, one corner of his mouth smirking up, his eyes bright.

"Don't flatter yourself. Everyone knows you are a fifth year," (albeit she had only really had confirmation of this a few hours previous), "meaning, at most, you could only be 16. Unless you were especially dim one year and got yourself held back. You didn't get held back did you?" Ascella eyed him. Diggory laughed - he had a nice laugh, full and welcoming - made her want to join in.

"No, not held back. But I am 16, just had my birthday last month."

"Oh jolly." Ascella herself had had her birthday already this year and was 14 now. She was sure she was most likely the oldest in her year and it looked like Diggory was one the oldest in his.

"Why do I get the sense that you don't agree?" he asked leaning closer to her. They'd moved slightly away from the punch table and were standing at a tall makeshift ledge that served as a sort of bar height. And suddenly as hard as it had been to start the conversation it was now that hard to stop, she and Diggory engrossed in their conversation now, the whole conversation flowing easily. And while Ascella checked every now and then to be sure Harry still had Cho's attention, never once did she detect any sign that Diggory wanted to make his way back to the Ravenclaw seeker. She even found she no longer wanted to leave and, if she was really willing to admit it, she was actually starting to quite enjoy herself.

Ascella found they had more in common than she'd ever thought and that Diggory wasn't all that boring to talk to. They discussed Quidditch, told each other funny stories from when they were growing up - he actually made her laugh with a rousing story about how he'd once ruined an entire fancy dinner his parents had been when he snuck into the kitchen and had decided it would be fun to climb the multi-tiered desert cake, after he'd knocked it over he was found sitting in the middle of the mess, eating and magicing pieces of the cake to float around him - and they complained about their least favorite teachers (he somehow was able to stand Snape to Ascella's great disgust, his least favorite being Binns - but they did agree that Lupin was their favorite, though Ascella was partial to Flitwick too and he to Sprout). The evening had grown late by now when Ascella realized that almost everyone had gone, including Harry and Cho.

"It's past midnight!" she exclaimed. "Time completely flew by." She turned back to Diggory, hesitating because she really wasn't exactly ready to leave just yet. Talking with Diggory was different than talking to her other guy friends - they talked about more mature things, things that even she and Harry rarely discussed and he had a unique outlook to boot on a lot of the topics they discussed.

She bit her lip, "Er - it sure was nice talking with you but - er - "

"Would you like an escort back to your tower?" Diggory asked with a nice smile.

"Wha - what - I mean why?" Ascella sputtered.

Diggory laughed at her confusion.

"I am a prefect, Ascella. It's well after curfew. If you are with me, you won't get into any trouble if you get caught."

"Oh. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea," she replied, understanding washing over her. And so that was how they ended up continuing their conversation as he escorted her back to Gryffindor Tower (she might have sort of mentioned that Gryffindor was her home Tower, not Ravenclaw - Merlin knew she didn't need the embarrassment of not getting past the riddle).

"So I have to ask,"Ascella began as they strolled along the dark corridor's, letting Diggory choose the path they took there - didn't want to show the Hufflepuff all the secret passageways and shortcuts to another house - figuring he must already know where the entrance was because he was a prefect. "If you are a prefect than why were you at a party drinking?"

"Quidditch parties are my one main exception to rule breaking," Diggory answered pleasantly. "Besides I've always felt that some rules are more important to uphold than others."

Ascella let out a short laugh, before she side-eyed him and saw he was serious. But she was still amused.

"Alright, well what are some other rules that you find more important to uphold than others?"

"Well, for one," Diggory said with a smile, "Escorting mildly tipsy girls back to Towers that aren't their home tower after hours."

Ascella's mouth fell open but at his grin she laughed and playfully hit his shoulder.

"You could have told me you knew I wasn't a Gryffindor!"

"And miss that face you just made when you found out I had always known? Never," he laughed.

"Why you cheeky - " Ascella stopped.

"Cheeky what?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Cheeky Hufflepuff," Ascella grinned back at him. He threw his head back and laughed.

They made it the rest of the way to Gryffindor tower with easy companionship. The only time any awkwardness crept back in was outside Gryffindor Tower when it was time to say good bye for the evening - how did one say good bye to someone they'd only starting talking to in order to keep them away from someone else?

"So here we are," Ascella said trying to ignore the shouts from Sir Cadogan behind her. She had stopped and was standing facing the older boy with her back to the Portrait Hole and Sir Cadogan.

"Er - is that portrait trying to challenge me to a duel?" Diggory asked, his eyes trained over her head.

"Mostly likely," Ascella said dismally. "He's replaced the Fat Lady's portrait while she'd getting repaired. Password changes about every five minutes, too, I swear." Diggory shook his head in bemusement. "Look thanks again for walking me back." Diggory's eyes moved back to hers, a bit softer now.

"You are very welcome," he said.

Ascella shifted her weight around again, her arms moving back and forth, as her fingertips brushed her thighs. Did they shake hands? Hug? Oh no, not a hug, she decided her hands going a bit sweaty at the thought. She ended up doing neither, just putting her hands in her pockets.

"Well - er," Ascella shifted around some more. "See you around, yeah?"

Diggory smiled back at her as confident and self-assured as he had been all evening.

"I sure hope so," he said with a glint in eyes. "Have a good night, Ascella Black."

And Ascella smiled back (or at least she hoped she'd smiled) before darting through the Portrait Hole. She was breathing hard on the other side. Well that was awkward, she thought, before she shrugged and let it go, deciding it was time to find Harry and see how his night had gone.

She found him up in his bed, still awake but he was smiling.

"Good night?" she asked him, crawling in. He grinned wide at her.

"Excellent." Then he made to close his eyes before he said, "I meant to ask you, did the dementors affect you too? At the game I mean."

Ascella sighed and looked away, shuddering at the memory.

"Yeah," she said. She hadn't had much time to think about it between Harry's fall and the party but now that she was reminded of it, she found she didn't like what the memory implied.

"I think I'm starting to understand it. That man's voice I hear - it's _his_ voice I hear. My father I mean. Him screaming and crying after finding my dead mother," she spoke hollowly, emotionless. It was the only way she could get the words out. Harry sat up and looked at her through concerned eyes. "He had to know who killed her. And he still joined the Death Eaters. Who _does_ that?" She looked desperately at Harry, her eyes beginning to burn.

"He was _devastated_ , Harry," she continued. "I have never heard someone so completely devastated. He was more than that - he was _broken_."

"Maybe that's why. Your mother's death pushed him over the edge."

"No, the McKinnon's - my mother's family - were only found because they'd already been betrayed by someone close to them. Ted told me that. It was him, my _father_ \- he was already a Death Eater. It was his fault she died." She grew quiet remembering what he'd said, _My fault_. She swallowed and said quietly, "He even said it: 'My fault,' he said. And he still worked for them." She grew completely silent then.

"I'm so sorry 'Cella. I hear my mum being murdered when the dementors come close if it's any consolation."

"Oh Harry," she said with a watery smile. "It isn't. It just makes me even more sad. What a pair we are, huh?"

"Yeah," he said with a sad smile. "Like we were destined to be mates, though."

"But of course," she said trying to lighten the dark mood they'd both fallen into. "But you and Cho had a good night, right?" she asked, changing the subject again to something lighter.

"We really did. At least I did - maybe she didn't though," he trailed off biting his lip and looking worried. Ascella smiled.

"I am sure she did too, but I'll do some digging if that would make you feel better." Harry grinned.

"It would," he said then fluffing his pillow up he added, "Thanks for keeping Diggory distracted."

It took Ascella a moment to register what he meant; she'd actually quite forgotten why exactly she'd started talking to Diggory in the first place, as she'd ended up so thoroughly enjoying the conversation but she managed to recover and say, "Ugh. You are welcome. And you owe me. I had to use feminine while and flirting techniques I didn't even know I possessed."

They went to sleep then, but it wasn't happy thoughts that occupied Ascella's dreams; they were dark, dark thoughts of a nasty murdering father - who may not have said the spell that killed her mother but who may have well have. And so it seemed her nightmares were to continue; she doubted sincerely at this point that they would ever stop – not until he was caught and behind bars again.

* * *

 **a/n: Well? What do you think? :)**

 **Also thanks a million to all my lovely reviewers - that you take the time and shoot me a line or two is amazing! I hope I continue to put out chapters that you enjoy!**


	27. Chapter 27

**a/n: I'm sorry - I'm sorry - I'm sorry - I'm sorry! I have no excuse except that my life has been crazy recently and some shit has been going down. I also built a brand new computer and all my Ascella files were on the old hard drive which I've not had the effort to get off until recently because of... stuff... that I don't want to mention here. ANYway! You lot just want a new addition to this story so here it is!**

 **Disclaimer: Do not own, that would be the lovely Joanne Rowling who does.**

* * *

 **December 1993**

"You know - I don't think Chaser is really for me either," Ascella said after she dove for a dropped Quaffle for the umpteenth time, returning up to where Harry, Cho, Katie Bell from Gryffindor, and Randolph Burrow from the Ravenclaw team were hovering on their brooms. Harry was trying and failing to not laugh at her (she may or may not have so spectacularly missed the last pass to her and had flayed around so much, her arms windmilling wildly, that she'd tipped the broom forward and had had to return her hands to her broom lest she fall off). She glared at him while the others pretended they weren't amused as well.

"Oh shut it," Ascella grumbled to them all, tossing the Quaffle to Burrow with a bit more force than she'd intended to in her annoyance. He grunted as he caught it.

"Well, that was a nice toss - bit aggressive but better than the rest," he teased. Ascella rolled her eyes.

Burrow was only there because he and Cho were good friends and he was one of the ones on the team that mostly ignored Ascella, indifferent to her, while Bell had been asked to help out by Harry. Ascella hadn't played at all in Ravenclaw's first match against Hufflepuff at the end of November. Ravenclaw flattened Hufflepuff, which made Harry happy as it helped the Gryffindor chances but it only put Ascella on edge and she had become more determined than ever to find a position she would be good at so she could actually _play_ in a match some day. She had also found that heavy Quidditch and flying sessions as she tried to figure out her ideal position were helping to exhaust her so that she could actually fall asleep at night without having nightmares about her father.

They continued to pass the Quaffle around - good practice for the rest of them even if Ascella was not going to actually be a Chaser - before someone came up with the bright idea that Ascella should try out Keeper while they had two first string Chasers with them in Burrow and Bell. That worked well (and by well it was well for the Chasers as Ascella was more often than not dodging out of the way of the Quaffle's than stopping them, letting them soar right through whichever of the three hoops the Chasers had been aiming for) until Ascella attempted to stop one but misjudged it and it her slipped through her fingers and slammed into her chin.

"OW!" she moaned, letting the ball drop (Burrow went chasing after it), her hands going to her face, while the others converged on her, making sure she was alright. Needless to say they decided to call it a day after that and Ascella decided if she never saw a Quaffle again, it would be too soon, completely ruling out being either a Chaser or Keeper as in her future.

Harry escorted Ascella back up to the castle ahead of the rest, who stayed behind to put the balls away, so Ascella could get her face looked at by Madame Pomfrey.

"I'm fine, Harry," Ascella grumbled to him, moving her jaw as little as possible while she talked. "It hardly hurts at all."

"Ascella - I can see the bruise already setting in and you can barely open your mouth to talk without wincing."

Ascella tried to pout but that hurt too and she ended up moaning and cradling her chin instead. Harry took this as confirmation he was right and Ascella grudgingly went along with him to the Hospital Wing.

An hour and much huffing and muttering from Pomfrey later (she was still angry with Harry for having snuck away with Ascella after his fall the previous month - he had been supposed to stay the rest of the weekend but had left with Ascella instead when she snuck him out for the Quidditch party - not that Pomfrey knew where they had gone just that he had left and not returned) and they were headed back out and up to Gryffindor Tower, Ascella feeling much better indeed but not willing to admit to Harry as much - didn't want that smug look on his face to get even worse at confirmation that he had been right.

As they were passing by the library they spotted a bushy haired girl with an overflowing bag entering it without even acknowledging them.

"Wasn't that Hermione?" Ascella asked, looking at Harry. Harry was still looking after their friend.

"I think so... She's been rather distant lately. Doesn't help Ron is always riding her about where she is all the time. And about her cat."

"Poor 'Mione," Ascella sympathized.

"I think she misses you," Harry said turning to her as they moved off.

"What? Misses me? But I see her in Arithmacy and we work on homework together - well next to each other." The only homework this year that Ascella was bound to always religiously complete and even go above and beyond with was Arithmacy - and Defense but that was only because she liked Lupin so much, then again she still did forget defense assignments here and there - and as such Hermione would join her when she was working on it though they didn't usually need to help each other overmuch.

"Yeah but she misses you. A female influence and all that - friendly face you know."

"Hmm, I suppose I could try and talk with her more, see what's going on with her. You know I have noticed that our homework sessions have been different recently - I've actually been helping her. And not with the only hard stuff like before but even with the easy stuff," Ascella mused thinking of their latest study session in the Ravenclaw common room.

"Yeah you should talk to her," Harry said alarmed at that information. Ascella didn't help anyone with homework unless it was to lend them her finished assignment for copying - not that that happened often as she was usually the last one to get her homework done if she got it done at all.

"Soo," Ascella grinned suddenly, throwing a sly look at her best mate. "How's it going with _Cho_?"

Harry's face instantly went scarlet. Ascella cackled.

"Shudup," he mumbled to her his face only flushing more. Ascella only laughed harder, until he pushed her over. Affronted, Ascella glared at him and his cheeky grin. Then he ran - Ascella hot on his heels, both of them arriving at Gryffindor Tower sweating, breathing hard and laughing.

Later that weekend in Ravenclaw Ascella found herself holed up with Terry Boot at her corner table while she researched more on the Wolfsbane potion and he worked on a star chart for Astronomy.

"That star is Sirius not Mintaka," Ascella said not looking up.

"I - what?" Terry scrunched his face up, eyes darting from her to his star chart (now incorrectly labeled) and back.

"Mintaka is one of the three sister stars making up Orion's belt. You are labeling Canis Major right there and the brightest star in the night's sky. That is Sirius."

Terry pursed his lips and consulted the open Astronomy book he'd checked out from the library after their latest Charms Club meeting. "Damn," he swore. "You're right."

"But of course."

She felt more than saw his glare. She ignored it. She also ignored his inquiry of if she'd done her star chart already. No, she hadn't and she wasn't planning on it. Not this one. She refused to label the constellation and star her father was named after - who cared if it was going to be a part of their year end project of mapping that whole region of the stars. While she did plan on turning in a project she planned on keeping that entire section blank.

Not too much longer passed before they were interrupted by the arrival of Aaron. After about 30 measly seconds Ascella gave up trying to keep her focus and instead started talking and laughing with Aaron - even getting quiet Terry to join in and laugh at their antics. At some point Padma came up to them and asked Aaron if he wanted to study with her and Sue Li for the upcoming Muggle Studies test they had but he dismissed her and waved her off without so much as glancing in her direction. With a crestfallen face Padma left in a huff shooting a half glare - half hurt look Ascella's way.

Ascella bristled and sniffed.

"Why's _she_ so stuffy?" Ascella asked Terry and Aaron, glaring after the girl. "She didn't even say hi to me." Aaron shrugged as if he couldn't be bothered while Ascella zeroed her gaze in on Terry who was pointedly avoiding her gaze. He must have felt it though because he wrote in his parchment so only she could see 'I'll tell you later'.

Ascella sat back stung and annoyed. So Padma _was_ angry with her. She just had no clue why.

The following Monday, Minnie came around asking for names of those that would be staying for the holidays. Ascella signed up without a moments hesitation with the dual purpose of keeping Harry company and avoiding further furtive glances and constant worry from Ted and Meda back home. She hadn't consulted them about it but they would have to deal. Besides if they tried to argue with her about staying she knew to come back with the fact that Hogwarts was easily the safest place for her to be staying.

Later that week, after Potions one day, Ascella managed to corner Terry, who since Sunday and his promise to tell her what was going on with Padma had been avoiding her - he'd even sat next to Michael Corner instead of her during Charms!

He looked mildly alarmed at the intense expression on her face as he cowered in the corner she'd literally cornered him in. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her gray eyes at him.

"You know what this is about," she stated after staring at him for at least a minute.

He focused his gaze over her shoulder.

" _Why_ is Pads mad at me?" Ascella demanded.

Terry let out a sigh.

"And why is it such a big deal that you've taken to avoiding me?"

"Look," Terry began. "Surely, you've figured it out?" He said this with the air that he really didn't want to be having this conversation.

Ascella humped and glared harder at him.

"Fine. Look Pads sort of has a crush on Morag."

"Oo-kay..." Ascella drew out. "First - gross. Second - what's that got to do with her being mad at me?"

Terry looked at her like she was crazy.

"Morag likes you!" he said finally meeting her gaze. "And you like him," he added miserably. " _That's_ why she's mad."

Ascella shuddered.

"Me? Like Aaron?" she was practically laughing now. "What ever gave any of you lot _that_ , quite frankly, _ridiculous_ impression?"

"Wait - you _don't_ like Aaron?" Terry asked, brightening at this news.

"Merlin, no!" Ascella exclaimed with another shudder. "Aaron is so not my type." she added, her mind flashing to an image of Kevin. She flushed thinking of him. No, she did not like Aaron.

"Well good," Terry said, shouldering his bag higher, a smug grin springing unbidden to his face and making to move off towards lunch. Ascella followed, too distracted at the insane idea that she liked Aaron to further question Terry about what to do about her strained friendship with Padma.

At dinner she was still thinking about it, having spent the better part of her afternoon lessons thinking on it and not paying any attention to the lessons.

Harry sat down next to her and became engaged in conversation with his house mates Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and Ron. It wasn't until after Hermione had arrived and gotten into a discussion with Ron that Ascella turned to Harry.

"Objectively - if two best mates who are lads - both have crushes on the same girl but the girl only likes the one how would you handle it?"

Harry shifted in his seat, avoiding her gaze as he stirred around his mashed potatoes on his plate. He made a face as he responded.

"I don't know, 'Cells. Can't you ask 'Mione?"

Ascella huffed.

"No, I can't ask her. She's worse than I am when it comes to this stuff. Normally, I'd ask Padma but she is angry with me for some stupid reason I can't be bothered with." At this point, while Ascella remembered that Terry had told her the reason for Padma being annoyed she had only focused on the fact that Aaron liked her and of how that would affect her - for instance would Kevin, if he knew about his best mates crush, be willing to go for her despite liking her himself. It would make sense that he wouldn't. Thus, that was all that she had thought about since and she had quite forgotten the detail about Padma liking Aaron.

"Well I don't know," Harry finally relented and replied, seriously thinking about what she'd asked him. "I 'spose if Ron and I liked the same girl but I knew that Ron liked her more than yeah I'd lay low and let him have her."

"So you'd pretend you didn't like her?" Ascella asked brightening. "Even if the girl liked you?" Harry shrugged and nodded.

That _had_ to be what was happening with Kevin and Aaron and why Kevin had been just treating her like a friend since school. Feeling heartened Ascella kissed Harry on the cheek and flounced away from the now blushing boy to head for the Ravenclaw table.

"OY!" he called after her. "Why did you ask?"

Ascella waved him off. "No reason!" she called and continued on her way, her bag swinging from her shoulder.

She was now flat determined to spend more time with Kevin and get him to admit to liking her like she did him. Unfortunately, she didn't get Kevin to confess his undying love for her in the next weeks before break but she did get some more one on one time with the boy, for which she was very happy about.

The last weekend before term ended was a Hogsmeade trip much to everyone but Harry's delight. Ascella offered to stay behind with Harry but he convinced her it would be a good time for her to spend some more time with Hermione. Since Ascella was a bit starved of female companionship at this point, seeing as Padma was avoiding her worse than ever, she relented and bundled up in winter weather garb, tucking her long wavy golden blond hair into a gray hat, the ends covered by the thick Gryffindor scarf she'd stolen from Harry and wrapped around her neck, and she'd headed out to Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione.

Of course though, they'd all had the shock of their lives when Harry showed up behind them in Honeyduke's while they were debating the merits of Cockroach Clusters and if Harry would like them.

Ascella, for her part had gotten over the shock soonest, shrieking in joy at seeing Harry there in Hogsmeade and throwing her arms around her friend. Hermione had sniffed and made some noise about getting in trouble but Ascella and Ron hushed her and asked Harry how he'd gotten there.

He had then shown and explained about the Maruader's Map, a magic map that showed where everyone was in Hogwarts, as well as showing all the secret passages in and out of the school, one of which Harry had used to get to Honeyduke's - apparently it led right to the Honeyduke's cellar. Ascella and Ron were well impressed with the map - Ascella more impressed with the genius of the creator's than in harping about how Fred and George should have given it to Ron because he was their brother as Ron kept saying. Personally, Ascella didn't give a shit about the twins giving it to Ron and was just glad Harry had it as it would make sneaking about the castle - not to mention to Hogsmeade - that much easier.

Hermione was still protesting but they did eventually manage to hush her and appease her issues with both the map and Harry sneaking out and then they all agreed to head to the Three Broomsticks for a warm up drink. In the Three Broomsticks while Ascella was waiting in the crowded room at the bar for four butterbeers she ran into Cedric Diggory. He was with his mates Andreanna Fawley (who wasn't with her boyfriend George Weasley for once), Declan Hawthourne, Tanner Park, and Emily - something - Ascella couldn't remember.

"Alright, Black?" he asked, a smile on his lips. Ascella shrugged.

"Yeah, alright," she replied with a small smile and without saying anything else she gathered up her four butterbeers and pushed on through the crowd back to the corner table that her friends had found to hid Harry at. It was behind a large Christmas tree and far in the corner.

Despite this the group still shoved Harry under the table when a group of teachers and staff came to the table next to them including Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, as well as Hagrid and _the_ Minister of Magic. Ascella remembered seeing the Minister the previous year and she still found his fashion choices ridiculous. Pinstrips AND a lime green bowler hat?!

Any humor at his ridiculous outfit left her though as the topic of their conversation turned to escaped mass murderer, and her father, Sirius Black.

"I can still hardly believe Black went so bad," Madame Rosmerta was saying. "I remember him as a boy, hanging out with James Potter and the rest. Always ready with a joke and a laugh."

"Oh, it's worse than all that," Fudge said gruffly. "The worst of it isn't even that well known. The Potter's weren't the only ones betrayed by him. Surely you remember the McKinnon's and how their entire family was killed by the Death Eaters?"

Rosmerta nodded.

"Yes. I cried so much when I heard the news. I went to school with one of the older brothers and I remember the girl, Marlene. Good looking family," Rosmerta said. "Black always seemed so sweet on the girl."

"For all we know," McGonagall replied, "he was. Despite it all. She and he are the parents of third year Ascella Black and somehow she survived. I am sure you've seen her in here this year?"

Rosmerta gasped.

"No!" she breathed her perfectly red manicured hand moving to cover her mouth. "I knew the girl had to be Marlene's - she resembled her too much - but not Black's too!"

Flitwick and McGonagall were nodding in confirmation. Ascella felt her stomach churn and the blood drain completely from her face. This was turning into one too many confessions for her liking.

"No one knew until year's later," McGonagall explained. "But the girl is his. She has his eyes."

"And his temperament for mischief," Hagrid added.

"She's got more of the mother I think," Flitwick came in rather hotly, defending his house student. Ascella felt a wave of gratitude for her head of house. "I've never seen someone so gifted at Charms. 'Cept maybe her mother or Dumbledore in his day." Ascella felt some warmth flood back into her cheeks at his words.

"Despite it all though," Fudge cut in. "For all we know he was the cause of the McKinnon's downfall as well as the Potter's."

"No!" Rosmerta gasped while the others nodded. Ascella suddenly wished she was hiding under the table with Harry, anything to be out of the way of directing hearing the words that followed, any way to avoid the shocked looks Ron and Hermione couldn't help but throw her way.

The group of adults proceeded to explain how James and Black had been best friends in school, how after school the Potter's had known Voldemort was after them and that they'd gone into hiding, how it was Black that was the secret keeper, how Black knew where the McKinnon's were hiding out too, how Dumbledore knew their was a traitor among them and how he urged James to use someone else, not Black but how he didn't listen and how both the McKinnon's and the Potter's ended up dead - the ultimate betrayal, a betrayal that lead to Black being the closest supporter of Voldemort. Here Ascella genuinely felt she was going to be sick - she had never known the depth to which her father was a madman.

And it only got worse.

The group continued to explain about how another friend, a Peter Pettigrew, had tracked down Black after hearing of the deaths of Lily and James, had tracked him down to seek vengeance on him and how he and 12 muggles instead ended up dead, the crime for which Black was ultimately convicted of and thrown in Azkaban for. At this point Ascella stopped listening, her ears ringing and her stomach churning wildly.

How - _how_ was she related to that man? How could her mother have loved him enough to marry and have a child with?

Ascella didn't remember much about the trip back to the castle, just that Harry wasn't with them and that she was thankful for the raging snowstorm that kept Hermione or Ron from trying to carry on a conversation with her. She begged off dinner once they reached the Great Hall and headed up to Ravenclaw. She didn't get the riddle right so she sat outside for a minute before she was luckily saved by a group of second years who were on their way down to the Great Hall.

Ascella avoided her Ravenclaw friends by not leaving her four post - seeing as her only remaining Ravenclaw friends at this point were male and they couldn't get into her dormitory - Padma was still avoiding her.

To say her night was far from restful would have been a vast understatement.

Around noon the next day Ascella finally felt the pangs of hunger and she crawled out of the hovel her bed had become and pulling on a thick Midnight blue sweater Mrs. Weasley had made her first year (it was only a bit snug mostly across her boobs and now actually fit her arms and rested just above the waist band of her jeans - good thing Mrs. Weasley had made the sweater big at the time) she headed for Gryffindor. She had at first been confused and then delighted when she walked into the common room in Ravenclaw to find it completely empty; it was finally Christmas holiday! And she was the only Ravenclaw left.

Which meant she was going to get plenty of time to spend working on the Wolfsbane potion. But how to make sure she could get into and out of the tower?

"Hmm..." Ascella murmured surveying the door knocker while she kept her foot in it to keep it from closing. She knew she could always have Hermione help her get in but she really wanted a way to come and go as she pleased. She could have sworn the door knocker was looking mockingly back at her as she thought. Finally she decided on using a heavy armchair from the common room to wedge open the door though she doubted that would really work. But maybe she had a chance and then she headed out.

She found her friends circled around Harry in front of a roaring fire in the Gryffindor common room, trying to talk him out of killing Sirius Black. Ascella flopped down on the couch next to Harry and proceeded to put her feet up on the coffee table in front of them. She wasn't planning on joining the conversation but Hermione - clearly exasperated at this point - sent her a look of pleading.

Ascella sighed and sat up turning to look at her friend.

"Look mate, I don't blame you for wanting to kill him. Believe me I'd be the first in line to help," here Hermione let out a squawk of protest, but Ascella talked over her. "But you can't go after him."

Harry's face went from triumph at her first words to coloring with his anger.

"And why not?" he demanded, arms crossing, defiance shinning in his eyes.

"Because he already took my mother and her family from me. And he took your family from you. Don't give him the opportunity to take something else from us."

Harry deflated.

"Yeah. You're right," he mumbled.

Ascella grinned.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that? What was that?" she asked, cupping her hand around her ear and turning her head so as to better hear him.

"Yeah, yeah you're right. Happy?" he said a smile tugging at his own lips. Ascella laughed. Then Ron suggested they go down for a visit with Hagrid. Harry agreed but Ascella shook her head at the invitation.

"I want to migrate my potions project up from the N.E. practice potions room to Ravenclaw tower for break. I've the tower to myself. Might actually get some progress made what with not having any distractions," she said. Ron looked at her like she was crazy while Hermione looked intrigued and only Harry had no reaction having long since come to the point of just accepting Ascella as she was.

As anticipated the door to her tower was fast shut, the chair having been not enough to keep it open. She loudly cursed the door knocker. She could've sworn it winked back at her. Luckily, she'd been able to get the riddle right but that was only because of the, _The book of Common Wizards Riddles,_ book she'd checked out from the library a few weeks back and had been trying to memorize ever since.

At dinner that night, Ascella shocked her friends when she began stuffing her bag with as much food as she could carry - mostly non perishable items like hard bread, fruits and cheeses that she could refrigerate in her dorm with a simple spell.

"What?" she'd said upon finding them all staring at her like she was crazy, Ron even open mouthed with his fork stopped halfway to his mouth. "You don't want me to starve do you?" she said by way of explanation before flouncing off back to Ravenclaw tower where she proceeded to spend the next week leading up to Christmas engrossed in her research.

Ascella didn't leave the tower after that, asking for Harry to send food when he could but she did take the opportunity to spend some more time with Hermione - inviting her over to help with the difficult parts of the potion or to check a figure she had calculated. At the moment she was just trying to make the base potion not implement any changes but she did make note of the steps that could be toyed with to make the potion taste better without affecting the effect of the potion. She was adding to her and Meda's research as well and confirming or decrying their suppositions that were good or wrong as she went through the practical parts of actually brewing the potion.

Ascella didn't even emerge from her tower on Christmas day, having stayed up all night before in the common room working on the potion. In all honesty she had quite lost track of the time and what day it was so involved in her research was she. In fact she only realized it was Christmas at all when around noon Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived to wish her a Happy Christmas and invite her down to Christmas dinner.

She declined going to dinner as she was at a stage in the potion where she couldn't leave it but she did take a break to open her presents from her three best mates.

Hermione had gotten her a book on techniques for better potions researching, which made Ascella light up. Harry got her a professional looking leather bound scientific journal that looked to cost quite a lot, for her to organize her Potions notes in as well as a year's subscription to Quidditch weekly, while Ron stuck with the customary chocolates and Zonko's joke products. She had then run to her dormitory to find the gift from Mrs. Weasley and she promptly pulled on this years Christmas sweater, a royal blue with an artful cursive AMB, her initials, on the front the A curling into the M, curling into the B each letter offset and down from the letter above.

Then her friends promising to bring her leftovers from the feast. To her surprise hours later it was only Harry and Ron that came to visit - only managing to get in because they knocked loudly on the door and shouted to Ascella to let them in.

They spent the rest of the evening laughing, eating sweets, and playing Exploding Snap while lounging in front of the roaring fire in the Ravenclaw Common room, the drapes pulled tight over the large windows and nestled next to the Christmas Tree, while Ascella took frequent dashes over to her potion. All in all the usually airy tower was quite cozy for a change.

It wasn't until Ascella finally dragged herself to bed once the potion was set to simmer for 12 hours, that she realized she hadn't opened any of her other presents. Most of them were the usual knick knacks from her friends - Padma even having still gotten her something - and the usual family gifts from Ted, Meda and Dora, including the somehow still warm Monkey Bread, but there was one present in particular that stood out from all the rest.

The package was a small silver wrapped box, no bigger than a deck of cards. It was so small in fact that she had almost missed it in the explosion of wrappings that littered her bed after having opened the rest of her gifts. Picking it up she searched for a card, knocking over the pile of caramels from Terry onto the floor. She couldn't find one so shrugging she used a finger to dislodge the tape and tear off the pretty silver wrappings. The box was a jewelry box - Ascella recognized though she had never been given jewelry before. Perplexed at who would send her jewelry - she wasn't known for wearing any - she opened the box. And her heart stopped at what she saw.

It was a sturdy galleon sized silver locket, on a smooth silver chain. And while it wasn't new it was clearly well loved and taken care of, no tarnishing of the worn silver. She reached out a finger to gingerly slide under the locket using her thumb to glide gently over the top. To her surprise the oval face opened to reveal photos within.

Ascella gasped aloud and pulled the locket from the box to look closer at it. Surely not - but there it was. The photos on each side were still moving photos but they were also cycling through a medley of photos, changing every few seconds and in all of them was the same smiling beautiful blond - Ascella's mother.

In the photos her mother was anywhere from a gangly eleven year old, her arm around a boy with messy black hair that was surely James Potter, to the beautiful woman Ascella had recently begun to find in the photos Harry had found for her and the ones Flitwick provided. And Ascella devoured and cherished seeing each and every one the way a starved man may covet freshly found food.

And then in one of the photos was a man she didn't recognize, though there was only one person it could possibly be. He had silky black hair, a full and handsome face, not shrunken and sallow as she had grown accustomed to thinking of it. He wore a look of adoring love and happiness on his face, his arms wrapped around her mother who was holding a babe that could only be her as they both looked down on her.

It was the gray eyes that confirmed who it was - Sirius Black. Her father. She felt a strong desire to fling the necklace from her hand across the room. But she didn't. The more she watched as the series of photos changed, more of them featuring her parents, and then started anew the more she wanted to clutch the necklace close to her and to believe in the fantasy of a happy story it told. For in looking at these photos she could lose herself in a dream and let herself imagine for a moment a world where this family loved each other very much - a world where her father wasn't a madman, where her mother was still alive and where the babe, her, had grown up with the love of two parents.

She felt the tears drop from her chin onto her hands before she realized she was crying. Seeing them she knew she didn't want to be alone anymore and clutching the necklace in a tight fist and tucking that fist against her breast she made on stocking clad feet for Gryffindor and Harry's bed.

Harry, best friend that he was, didn't question her arrival, simply moving over and tossing her the extra pillow he kept for her use.

Wordlessly, she handed him the necklace, still open to the flashing photographs. Harry silently watched it before looking up at her and pulling her to his side, his arm around her shoulders. She buried her nose in his side and let the silent tears free - even as she hated herself for showing such weakness.

"Who's it from?" Harry finally broke the silence to whisper.

"Dunno," Ascella mumbled her voice hoarse and scratchy. Then more silence.

"Would you think I was mad to want to wear it?" she asked. She couldn't - no didn't - want to explain why. She felt Harry take a deep breath and sigh.

"No," he breathed, rubbing her back. "There is nothing but love in this necklace. Whoever sent it knew that. You would be mad to _not_ wear it."

Ascella pulled back to look at her friend, before sharing a watery smile with him. She sniffed deeply and wiped her nose before turning round and pulling her hair back so Harry could put the necklace on her.

Once done, she fingered the heavy silver oval, unused to the weight of something hanging from her neck but she quickly decided she quite liked this weight. She fell asleep that night with a smile on her lips. And for once no nightmares did she have.

The rest of break found Ascella back to her work in Ravenclaw tower, the only change to her behavior was that she now caught herself fingering the necklace at that hit at her breastbone, fingering it when she was thinking or bored. She had been wearing it less than a week but she already felt as though she'd always had it and didn't know what she'd do without it.

To her surprise Hermione found her way to Ascella more often than not in the last week before break ended. Ascella didn't mind as her bushy haired friend was either a help or stayed out of the way as she worked on her own homework. Ascella didn't see much of Harry or Ron as Hermione kept her well supplied in food and she was nearing the end of the potion which needed constant attention in the end days so she didn't leave her home tower at all.

It was this reason that kept her uninformed of the fight that had developed between the boys and Hermione. In fact it wasn't until she arrived in Gryffindor Tower the day before term was to resume to announce that she had successfully brewed the potion and had achieved very good research when she finally noticed that instead of sitting next to Harry and Ron by the fire Hermione was off at a corner table her nose buried in a pile of books, not looking their way.

It soon became rather clear that the boys were in a fight with the Gryffindor bookworm. Ascella had - not knowing any better - gone over and dragged the girl with her out the portrait hole and down to lunch with them. It was then that at the glares both boys sent her way that Ascella finally heard what had happened on Christmas day. All about how Harry had been anonymously sent a Firebolt (here Ascella had been appropriately in awe and wanted to see it) only for McGonagall to arrive after dinner to say she needed to see it and "strip it down."

"But it's just a broomstick?" Ascella said but the resulting glares from the boys silenced her. "Oy, don't drag me into this! I didn't even know it had happened. 'Mione why _did_ you tell McGonagall?" Ascella said turning to the girl.

Here Hermione had flushed pink and mumbled about how she thought - and how McGonagall agreed - that the broom had likely been sent by Sirius Black. Ascella bristled at this, irrationally offended. While the rational part of her could see where Hermione was coming from and that by thinking that way about Black, didn't mean Hermione thought any differently about her but she didn't care. Instead of being understanding and taking Hermione's side or even trying to remain neutral Ascella felt a sneer grace her face, her lip curling as she squared off on Hermione.

"Oh yeah 'cause Black could just walk into Quality Quidditch Supplies and purchase the most expensive broom of the lot, which he then jinxes or curses only to send it as a gift to Harry for Christmas is that it?" she began hotly, gray eyes flashing dangerously, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She ignored the way Hermione's bottom lip was beginning to tremble and continued with her ribbing. "Madman or not - I think there are more than a few flaws in _that_ logic."

"But - but who else would have sent it to him?" the girl pleaded. Ascella's cold glare was her only response.

"Ascella," Harry warned, stepping in before Ascella could say something really cutting but Hermione beat her to it.

"Fine!" she said, tears welling in her eyes. "Take their side. I knew you would." And then she was gone.

The rest of them continued on to the Great Hall in silence, Ascella still seething inside and Harry knowing better than to try and talk to her about it. In truth she wasn't sure exactly why she was so angry with Hermione. Just that she was sick of hearing how much of a madman and danger her father was to her best mate's life and she had taken that frustration out on Hermione. It wasn't her fault but there it was. Maybe Meda and Ted were right, McGonagall and Hagrid too, she had a darkness within her - one that she most have gotten from her father. She felt sick at the thought but like hell she was going to apologize, anger still flashing whenever she thought of it.

And so it was that they found themselves arriving into January and the new term down a friend. So far third year was turning out to be their worst yet.

* * *

 **a/n: Hey, hope you enjoyed! By the way if anyone wants to be a beta or knows a good beta let me know because I re-read some of my older chappie's and am quite amazed you lot have followed and/or sent me nice reviews cause damn! There are some silly, silly mistakes that I can't believe I didn't catch! I would like to be an author one day so give me constructive criticism and/or encouragement to keep writing! And I love and appreciate everything you lot send in. :)**

 **And for those of you who can't wait for Ascella to first see Sirius - well it's coming up! ;)**

 **Also for those of you who've expressed concern and/or guesses on any of the ships well let me just say this: Keep reading and enjoy the ride cause, after all, to quote Shakespeare, "The course of true love never did run smooth." :)**


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: Do not own, that'd be Ms. Rowling**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **January 1994 - mid February 1994:**

Things remained tense between Ascella and her two female friends going into the new year but at least Padma was making small efforts to talk to her again - no doubt on the hearsay of Terry. She even went so far as to smile and laugh with her in Divination when she partnered with her. They were starting Palmistry for the winter semester and this opened up a whole new slew of jokes for Ascella and her friends as she seriously surveyed her friends palm and told her in a mystical voice that based on the length of her life line she should have died four years ago, much to the entertainment of Hufflepuff Gabriel Fawley, as well as Aaron and Padma, who all snorted and tried to cover their laughter behind their hands, while Trelawney sent them dirty looks.

Mid-January Ascella finally got the opportunity she'd been both hoping for and dreading: she got to play in a Quidditch match. Ravenclaw was playing Slytherin and the match was a close one. Ascella was watching on the edge of her seat as the match got nastier and nastier. Slytherin was ahead but not by much when Ravenclaw beater Duncan Inglebee was slammed by Marcus Flint, knocked into the path of a bludger that proceeded to slam into his arm. There was a loud cracking noise and the next thing Ascella knew she'd been called to replace the beater as Inglebee was escorted to the Hospital Wing.

Davies had called a time out to tell her she was in, an intense expression on his face. Ascella had stared at him blankly - surely he wasn't serious - but the grim look in his eye said he was. And so it was that Ascella found herself playing her first real game of Quidditch, beater's bat in hand.

Unfortunately, she had no idea what she was doing. She sort of flew around aimlessly trying to avoid running into anyone else as Slytherin, now two competent beaters to their one, were beginning to edge further and further ahead. It wasn't until Jason Samuels, the other Ravenclaw beater flew by, bludgeoning a bludger with his bat, both hands off his broom, and shouting at her to stop thinking so hard and focus solely on using her "bloody bat to hit the damn bludgers!" that she gained some confidence.

She could do that, she thought, and so that's how she found herself eyeing up the bludger closest to her as it made for Cho. Then tearing up to it she heaved her bat back and with all her strength WHAM! she smacked the bludger off and away. And straight into her Captain and best chaser on the Ravenclaw team, Roger Davies. He had a moment of comic wide eyed bewilderment and fear as he saw the bludger come streaking towards him from near halfway across the pitch faster than usual and with no time for him to get out of the way. Ascella watched mildly horrified but also in elation and awe - she had hit it! she had hit it! - as the bludger beaned Davies in the side of the head and dropped him clear off his broom and flat onto the grass on the ground below. It was a good thing he'd been rather close to the ground but Ascella still winced.

The next five seconds were a blur but ultimately seeing no way to come back after losing their captain, Cho made the split second decision to catch the snitch instead of leading Malfoy away from it and thus is was that Ravenclaw narrowly lost to Slytherin. It was a heart breaker and Ascella should have felt down but how could she? She had finally - _finally_ \- found her Quidditch calling! Beater.

So enthused about this was she that the first words out of her mouth upon landing on the ground next to her teammates, a bleary eyed Roger Davies being supported by Grant Page and Randolph Burrow, were, "Blimey! What a rush? It's official: I've found my Quidditch calling!"

Most of her teammates looked at her in open eyed wonderment, Cho included who looked about ready to burst out laughing, except Davies who looked positively livid. He then proceeded to animatedly and loudly shout at her, Page and Burrow struggling to hold him upright so wild was he in his anger. Ascella might have taken the reprimanding more seriously if he'd been able to look at her straight, but as it was his eyes were quite glazed over and he was struggling to keep them focused on her.

"Oh calm yourself, Davies," Ascella winked at him and sent him a nice smile. He really was unsteady and she didn't want him to injure himself further. Besides her eardrums were beginning to hurt from all the shouting. "Honestly, when was the last time a bludger was able to knock you clear off your broom , huh?" Here Davies had quieted, thinking. Ascella took that as agreement that she'd found her calling, despite his renewed sputtering that that wasn't the point and how she'd be lucky to still be on the team, etc, etc. She could tell he'd warmed up to the idea though and she walked away with a smile on her face.

He then caught up with her after having a shower as she was walking back up to the castle. He still seemed a bit dazed but he told her she might be on to something as he gingerly touched the spot on the side of his head where the bludger had hit him.

"Just need to teach you to aim," he mumbled, before walking away from her towards the Black Lake. And in her joy she hadn't the heart to tell her Captain that the castle was in the _other_ direction.

Roger Davies turned out to not be the only one to catch up with her on the walk back. Ascella was surprised to see none other than Cedric Diggory walking across the lawn towards her. He smiled wide when he caught sight of her.

"Doing alright, Black?" he asked a twinkle in his eye.

"Marvelous! Simply marvelous," she replied with a wide smile as Diggory fell into step with her.

"Oh yeah?" he asked, raising one eyebrow at her suspiciously.

"Yes," she replied brightly, a wide smile on her face. Grandly she announced, "I, Ascella Black, have finally succeeded in finding my Quidditch calling: beater!"

Diggory shot her a bemused look. Ascella deflated a bit.

"Why does everyone keep giving me that look when I say that!" she disparaged.

"Well...," Diggory slowly began. "You did manage to knock your Chaser and Captain straight off his broom with a miss-aimed bludger... and you only played for about, oh five minutes or so."

"Oh never mind that," Ascella waved him off. "Even Davies came round to the idea after he stopped all his needless yelling - mind you I don't know that I will ever regain full range of my hearing. Even so even he had to agree I'd be able to be trained up! Apparently he had to concede he had never been hit so hard by a bludger before."

Diggory laughed at her pleased expression then, shaking his head as if she made no sense to him but that he didn't really mind.

"Just you wait Diggory, next year I'll be having the last laugh when I am the best beater at Hogwarts!"

Diggory laughed harder at that, but Ascella found she didn't mind hearing him laugh. He had a way of laughing where you knew he wasn't laughing at you and that was nice.

"Say what were you still doing down this way, anyway?" Ascella asked as Diggory held open one of the Oak front doors for her. She thought her question was a straight forward one so she was surprised by Diggory's reaction to it. He followed her into the Entrance Hall, his left hand going up to rub at the back of his neck, his cheeks flushing a faint pink in color.

"Oh - er - well I wanted to see if I could catch you to see if you were planning on going to the Quidditch party tonight?"

"Negative Diggory," Ascella replied easily. "I've a Potter to track down. He's been rather busy lately and tonight might be the only night I'll see him this week. I told him I'd let him copy my Divination essay - Oh but don't tell anyone, you prefect you," she jokingly threatened.

Diggory held his hands up in surrender.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said, with a warm grin. "Well if you finish early you both should think of stopping by. Same room as last time. Password's 'Holly Moran' this time." She told him she would think about it and with a smile, that he warmly returned, she left him at the Marble Staircase to indeed track down Harry.

Harry had started dementor defense lessons with Lupin and between that, more practices set by Oliver Wood and an increase in homework she had barely seen her friend since the start of term.

She found him at a table in the Gryffindor common room trying and failing to work on his Divination essay, his usually messy hair even messier in his frustration caused by him running his hands through it. Wordlessly, Ascella pulled her finished essay from her bag and put it in front of him. He smiled in gratitude and started to expertly copy it, making sure to change enough of it to make it obvious he hadn't copied.

"Aren't you going to congratulate me?" she asked him as she watched him scratch away at his parchment.

"Congratulate you for what exactly?" he asked, not looking up and scratching the end of his nose with his quill.

Ascella let out a deep sigh as though thoroughly exasperated.

"For finding my Quidditch calling! I'm a beater!"

Harry choked on a laugh before finally looking up at her, amusement heavy in his eyes.

"I'm sorry - you're _what_?" he asked.

Ascella pouted at his less than enthusiastic response to her announcement.

"I'm to be a beater. It is my Quidditch calling."

"Ha! Good one Cells," Harry said turning back to his essay. "You do realize in the five minutes you played that you managed to only hit one bludger and that bludger hit your captain and knocked him off his broom?"

"Yes. Your point?"

"That I think you might want to rethink beater as your 'Quidditch calling' as you put it."

Ascella scoffed at him.

"Why do people keep _doubting_ me?" she huffed, silently vowing that she'd prove them all wrong. Like Davies said she just needed to be trained up. Personally, she thought she'd done rather well all things considered having never played beater before and being thrown into the game as she had been.

She'd opened her mouth to continue her argument when Harry abruptly changed the subject telling her about his latest dementor practice with Lupin.

"Get this 'Cella," he said, reverence and awe as well as a certain hunger for information in his eye. "Lupin knew my dad. He told me they were friends in school."

"No," Ascella breathed thoroughly distracted from their previous conversation. "But that must mean - "

"Right. That he knew Black too," Harry cut her off, eyes gleaming that she'd thought of the same thing as him.

"Er - well yes I suppose but that wasn't what I was thinking."

Harry sat back and looked at her curious.

"What were you thinking?"

"That Lupin likely knew my mother too. And yours."

"Huh," Harry said, pursing his lips. "You know I hadn't thought of that. But you're right! You should ask him. Don't you have a detention with him from McGonagall for getting caught out of hours here in Gryffindor common room again?"

Ascella groaned. She did and she'd been quite happy having forgotten about it. It was embarrassing enough to be reminded that she'd been caught in the Gryffindor common room after hours for the first time in almost a year let alone be reminded that it was really her fault it had ended in a detention instead of just points lost. She'd just _had_ to be cheeky with McGonagall and while she'd earned a round of laughs from the Gryffindor's still up, the Weasley twins included, she had not endeared herself to Minnie.

That Monday after Transfiguration Ascella was again reminded of her upcoming detention when McGonagall caught her in the corridor after the lesson.

"Don't forget, Miss Black, you will be expected in Professor Lupin's office at 7 o'clock sharp," she primly told her.

"Right-o, Minnie," Ascella saluted her professor. Harry looked at her horrified at what she'd just said. He hadn't really thought she'd ever call McGonagall that to her face. In fact Ascella hadn't really meant to but it was out there now. She honestly expected McGonagall to bristle, lecture her on respect for her professors and assign her at least a dozen more detentions but what she did instead shocked Ascella even more.

The Transfiguration teacher froze, her face going pale like she'd seen a ghost, then she blinked once before walking away.

Ron and Harry turned to her equal looks of disbelief written all over their faces.

Ascella herself returned them with equal disbelief. She couldn't comprehend for the life of her how she'd just managed to get away with that.

When she mentioned it later that night in detention with Lupin he struggled to keep his amusement and shock from showing.

"You called her _what_?" Lupin choked on his laugh.

"Minnie. Why do _you_ find this so amusing?" Ascella narrowed her eyes at her Defense teacher.

He sputtered and tried to tell her that he wasn't amused, while avoiding her eye, but she did eventually get out of him the reason. Apparently some of his closest friends in school had used to call her Minnie. He had a look of fondness in his eye at the memory and so Ascella decided Minnie was a good nickname to keep using. His confession also served to remind her of her conversation with Harry about Lupin knowing Black and James, which led her to asking if he'd known her mother too by any chance.

"Yes, I did know your mother," he finally admitted, after much begging and puppy dog eyes sent his way by Ascella. For some reason he didn't seem to particularly want to talk about her mum - maybe he was worried she'd ask about Black - but once she'd made it clear she only wished to know a little more about her mother he'd finally relented.

"Now I didn't know her well but yes, you've guessed it, we were in the same year at school. She was an amazingly kind woman, Ascella. And positive too. Always saw the good in people."

"Is that how she fell for a man like Black?" Ascella couldn't help but ask. "Because she always saw the good in people?"

Lupin took in a sharp breath before he continued. "She wasn't the only one, Ascella, to fall for his charms and believe he was a good man. So don't let his betrayal make you think less of your mother, for she truly doesn't deserve it."

Ascella nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak but if she was willing to admit it she felt lighter than she had in weeks hearing him say that. It gave her hope that at least one of her parents had been wholeheartedly good.

They spent the rest of the detention in amicable silence, the only sound that of Ascella's quill as she graded more quizzes for him (this time Ravenclaw second years - she couldn't help but feel a little jealous at the good education those buggers were getting in comparison to her second year Defense class with Lockhart, the only thing he'd managed to teach her was to not let a bunch of Cornish Pixies loose in a classroom, but somehow she had a feeling she could have figured that one out without his help). It wasn't until they were saying their goodbyes that Lupin called her back.

"Oh before you go Ascella, Harry mentioned the dementors affect you in much the way they do him. I don't want to pry but I do want you to know - should you need anyone to talk to about it or if you want to join Harry and I in our dementor lessons - you are more than welcome - I am here if you need anything." He said it with such honest and open sincerity that Ascella could only believe him and smile in thanks.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Thanks, Professor. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Ascella."

The next day in Ancient Runes Ascella received what she almost considered the worst news she'd had all year - and it wasn't that Malfoy had finally managed to get her expelled. No, Malfoy had been rather quiet since term began again - though he had tried to make cutting comments at her about her performance in the Ravenclaw/Slytherin match. Tried being the operative word as he had found himself gagging rather quickly on his tongue anytime he tried to speak while Ascella looked on with an innocent and carefree expression as if 'who me? No, I'm not doing anything' and he had quickly learned to stop. Ascella vowed though that next time she played him in a match she would be a good enough beater to send the bludger's at him any chance she got.

No, the news that she received was that they were starting the term with a month long project. Now the project wouldn't have been a problem - it was the fact that it was a _partner_ project and her partner was none other than Slytherin Blaise Zabini. She'd crinkled up her nose in distaste when Professor Babbling announced that their partners were to be their desk mates. She then side-eyed Zabini, her grimace still firmly in place, only to discover he looked, if possible, even less enthused about this arrangement than she did.

Somehow they managed to communicate enough with the other to decide to meet at the library later in the week. And so that was how Ascella found herself sneaking into the library, a hat pulled low on her head, dressed in nondescript clothing and constantly checking behind her to make sure no one saw her, before she darted out behind a shelf to join Zabini at a table he'd procured in a far corner of the library.

He looked up at her arrival, sniffed, tossed her a book, before looking back down at his parchment.

"You're late," was his only comment.

"Well la dee da," Ascella mocked, rolling her eyes. "Didn't want anyone to see me coming to meet you. Sheesh." She could've sworn she saw his lip twitch, but when she tried to look closer it was gone and so with a sigh she settled in and got to work.

Not two hours later Ascella was struck with the realization of just how truly and completely - and she didn't willing like admitting this - _intelligent_ Zabini was - not to mention how studious.

"You know it's a bit scary how smart you are," she finally said, even though she was loath to admit it. "You might even be smarter than Hermione - and I don't say that easily. Or maybe you're just more focused - driven. Yeah that must be it - more driven."

Zabini finally looked up at her, acknowledging her rambling and sending her a cutting look. Ascella looked back with a pleasant wide-eyed look on her face, waiting for him to speak. It was so much fun getting under the Slytherin's skin.

"Are you quite finished?" he finally asked.

Ascella made like she was thinking for a moment before she leaned forward.

"No. Why are you taking Divination? It doesn't exactly fit with the rest of this image you've cultivated."

"Like I'd tell you," he snorted.

"Come on," Ascella nettled. "I'll just make something up, if you don't tell me - something worse. Like you have a crush on Trelawney or she's your aunt and you have to take it as a familial obligation."

"As if I'd care."

It was Ascella's turn to snort.

"Please. Of course you would. I don't know much about you but I do know that much: you care very much what people think, your carefully constructed 'cool-guy' image is all a part of it. So I think you'll tell me else risk me ruining that. And you know I could actually succeed too - cause I don't care what people think."

Zabini eyed her as if unsure whether to believe her or not but Ascella could tell she'd won, especially when he looked away. Then under the pretense of dipping his quill into his ink pot he said to his parchment in a soft voice as if he wasn't addressing her, "I am taking Divination because it is a requirement to be an Unspeakable."

Ascella scrunched her face up.

"An Unspeakable? What's that?" she asked.

Zabini rolled his gold eyes so hard Ascella thought he'd never look normal again.

"Of course you wouldn't know. They work in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry in London. They are elite witches and wizards who research magics greatest mysteries."

"Oh. well that's actually quite cool isn't it," Ascella said thinking she might have to look more into this whole Unspeakable thing. She was also grudgingly half impressed and half disparaging of Zabini that he was only a third year and already knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Then again she did suppose he was in Slytherin, the ambitious house and all that.

"Yes, _quite cool_ ," he mocked. "Now can we be done with this needless chatter? So we can get this done and cease being around each other."

"Yes, shudder should someone see us together," Ascella said with heavy sarcasm though she didn't really fancy getting caught in the library with him by anyone they knew either - she had ninja'ed her way there for a reason after all.

"Indeed." was Zabini's only response.

" _Indeed_ ," Ascella mocked his posh accent under her breath once he was focused back on his parchment but she did get back to work after that.

Surprisingly they worked rather well together and managed to finish most of the project that day and the rest was easily divided up to work on alone. Ascella trusted Zabini to do his part well (he was too studious, she'd learned, not to) and it seemed he had seen enough of her ability to trust she could get her part done as well. Though he had given her the easiest part, translating a simple scroll of Ancient Mer - not that she was complaining, who _wanted_ to do all the hard work?

She may have let the matter rest that day but she couldn't help but bring up their conversation the next time they had Ancient Runes.

"Why is Divination a requirement to be an Unspeakable?" she asked just after he sat down.

Zabini sighed deeply, as if it was a great burden to be answering her.

"Because one of the greatest magical mysteries is prophecy and foretelling the future," he answered like the answer should have been obvious to anyone with a brain, which his tone seemed to imply she didn't have. Ascella chose to ignore the tone seeing as he always sounded like that and she'd learned that if he really thought that way about someone then he didn't bother with a reply at all.

Ascella took to questioning Zabini about Unspeakables at every chance she got and after much reluctance on his part she surprisingly got him to talk about it and when he did his usual sneer dropped off his beautiful face for just a bit. It was an interesting development in their usual trading of insults relationship - to actually be speaking almost like friends - but not an unwelcome one. They still traded insults of course, some habits were just too hard to break, but there was an underlying - dare she think - _warmth_ to them. If Ascella didn't know any better she might think they might be on their way to being friends.

The end of January brought with it a mild break in the weather before turning to icy rain in the beginning of February. Ascella didn't mind but it made Quidditch practice a right nightmare. Luckily, Davies had taken her at her word and begun training her up as a Beater. It was harder than she'd thought but very satisfying when she got to smack the bludgers. Her aim was improving gradually but steadily and Davies was now able to not flinch and duck out of the way every time she hit a bludger.

As she was leaving Arithmacy with Terry early in February, who she'd taken to sitting with since the fight with Hermione, she was distracted from telling him about her latest Quidditch practice by a loud tearing sound, followed by the sound of books, parchment and ink clattering to the stone floor. It was Hermione and her bag had split due to the ridiculous amount of books she kept in it.

"Oh!" the Gryffindor exclaimed, her usually bushy hair, even more frazzled looking that usual, as she stopped to mop up the damage. Unfortunately for her Malfoy was just leaving the classroom behind her and didn't miss the opportunity to berate her.

"Oh look, the mudblood bookworm's bag has split," he said harshly, laughing cruelly. "It's a wonder she made it this long so laden down she's been." He then proceeded to kick one of her ink soaked books further down the corridor.

"Watch it Malfoy," Ascella said. She hadn't been aware but she'd left Terry's side, drawn her wand and found herself between Malfoy and Hermione but she had and she wasn't going to back down. No one made fun of her friends and got away with it, being in a fight didn't change that.

Malfoy sneered at her but he moved off. Ascella kept an eye on him until he was out of sight before she turned to help Hermione with her things.

"You alright?" she asked as she summoned back the book Malfoy had kicked.

"I - yes," Hermione said. "Thanks."

They worked in silence then, managing to get most of the ink off the books and repairing the broken ink pots but the parchment was a waste, soaked through with ink.

When it was back in Hermione's bag the two stood and shuffled their feet awkwardly, both unsure of where to look.

"Well, thanks again," Hermione said before making to move off.

"Look I'm sorry," Ascella cut in at the same time. "I shouldn't have gotten so angry with you. You were only helping with the broom. And rationally I know Black wants to hurt Harry but I just got prickly at the thought of it. Like somehow his behavior reflected on me and what you thought of me."

Ascella shifted even more, awkward now that she'd finally said it out loud. She couldn't bear to met her friend's eye - Ascella hated being vulnerable - but she needn't have worried about Hermione because their was no judgment in her eyes, only sympathetic understanding.

"Oh no, Ascella!" she exclaimed, sounding surprised at the very idea. "I never, _never_ , meant it like that. You may share his genes but you are _nothing_ like that."

Ascella smiled at her grateful.

"Friends?" she asked.

"Friends," Hermione confirmed, smiling wide.

The two girls then went off to lunch together, talking the whole way. Ascella showed Hermione the undetectable extension charm so she could use it on her bag and she filled her in on her Kevin and Aaron theory.

Hermione was interested in it and thought it made sense but that they'd have to do some more observing before making a final call. They ended up eating at Ravenclaw with Kevin and Aaron so Hermione could begin her observing.

At dinner Ascella caught up with Harry and told him that she thought it was about time he and Ron made up with Hermione.

He agreed - he'd been thinking the same and had gotten his firebolt back so no harm no foul. He told her he'd talk to Ron and they'd make up.

Satisfied Ascella, spent the rest of the night - a full moon weekend was coming up after all - holed up in the N.E.W.T potions room testing out her latest methods to get Wolfsbane to taste better.

And so it was with great confusion that Friday arrived and she found the feud between the boys and Hermione was not better - if anything it was _worse_ than it had been the previous night.

"Why are you lot mad at 'Mione again?" she whispered to Harry on their way to Transfiguration. "You got your Firebolt back."

"Crookshanks ate Scabbers," Harry whispered back, his eyes on the unusually pale Ron.

"Huh. Well that's hardly her fault. And I'd be the last one to defend that ugly beast. I bloody hate cats."

"I agree with you - not about the cat thing, the first thing you said - but Ron is adamant."

"Right you take Ron, I've got 'Mione. She can come study in Ravenclaw when she needs it." They shook on it. And that was how it came to be that for the first time in almost three years Ascella sat in a different spot than usual in Transfiguration. She was surprised at the stir this caused - even McGonagall did a double take.

"You don't have to," Hermione mumbled into her hair, her face flushing, clearly embarrassed but pleased that Ascella had abandoned Harry to sit with her.

"Nonsense," Ascella waved her off. "It's hardly your fault your cat is behaving like a cat."

"But you and Harry - you aren't fighting now too are you?"

Ascella burst out laughing. Hermione looked taken aback at her reaction.

"Merlin no," Ascella said before explaining that neither she nor Harry really thought it was as big a deal as Ron was making it out to be so they'd decided to keep the peace and try to ease tensions by splitting their attention. Hermione saw the logic in that and the rest of the day passed uneventfully.

That Saturday was Ravenclaw's last match of the season. They were playing Gryffindor and while Harry and Ascella ribbed each other good naturedly about the upcoming match they remained friendly. Ascella didn't play in the match but she did get vast amounts of entertainment from it.

First, when Harry had blushed bright red at the smile Cho sent him at the beginning of the match. The two of them were still talking to each other but Harry was still more than a bit nervous around the older girl.

Next Ascella found great joy in all of Wood's comments to Harry through out the match.

"My personal favorite," she regaled to Harry after the match on their way back up to the castle. "'Now's not the time to be a gentleman Harry! Knock her off your broom if you have to!'" Ascella started cackling as she remembered it.

Harry looked at her sideways a grin on his face.

"You're in a good mood," he commented. "You aren't sad about losing?"

Ascella shrugged.

"Not overly. Didn't play so it's not like I feel that bad. Plus we all knew it was a bit of a long shot - Gryffindor is just too good this year. Nice work with Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy by the way."

Harry grinned at her. The three Sytherin's had tried to frighten Harry by dressing up as two dementors but Harry had sent a patronus at them and revealed them to be who they were.

"Liked that? Lupin was impressed."

"I'll bet," she ruefully grinned back at him.

They eventually made it back to Gryffindor tower which had dissolved into one raging party. The Weasley twins gave her hell for partying with them, being on the Ravenclaw team and all but they stopped heckling her when she downed a shot of firewhiskey they'd handed her.

All in all it was with a light heart that she fell into bed in Harry's dorm, unknowing of how everything was about to take a turn for the worse.

* * *

 **a/n: hehe I've been waiting to do that Minnie thing for ever! Two guesses who of Remus's friends used to call her Minnie. ;)**

 **Also just so you know, I know that a lot of Marauder stories have Sirius as a beater on the Gryffindor team with James but in my universe Sirius couldn't be bothered to be on the team (though Minnie might be persuaded to let him announce upon occasion - and by occasion I mean once before she learned her lesson haha). He still went to all the matches but he observed from the stands. It was Marlene that was on the Quidditch team but she was a Chaser with James.**

 **Again, thanks for every review! I don't always reply but I do read them and love seeing what you have to say.**

 **SO what do you think? Sorry to leave you with a cliffy as if you remember a certain someone breaks into the boys dormitory this night... :)**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: If you recognize it it belongs to JK Rowling**

 **a/n: Enjoy!**

* * *

 **February - March 1994**

Ascella was awoken later that night by an urgent desire to relieve herself. She struggled out from under the covers shoving Harry's arm away and extricated herself from his bed hangings and she padded her way across the snore filled third year boys dormitory to their bathroom. She was just washing her hands in the sink, bleary eyed from it being the middle of the night when she heard a loud yell.

Her head shot up and she felt adrenaline course through her. The yelling was coming from the boys dormitory.

"Harry," she breathed, before rushing back to the dormitory. She promptly froze in the doorway though. There was a person - a man, she guessed based on their size - fleeing from what looked to be Ron's four post. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Ron looking horrified, his hangings ripped down but her focus was on the dark space that outlined the retreating man.

"OY!" she shouted as fiercely as she could muster. The man started and turned at her outburst, freezing like a dog that's caught the scent of a rabbit, head caught to the side as he looked at her. She couldn't make out any of his features save for scraggly long black hair. That is she couldn't until he took a step toward her, his face catching the moonlight streaming in from the window near Dean Thomas's bed. The light highlighted sunken cheeks, sallow skin, and gray eyes - eyes so very much like her own. Sirius Black - her father - was standing not fifteen feet from her.

She stepped back, horrified, her hand going to the locket hanging around her neck. His eyes darted down at her abrupt movement, eyes fixing on the locket she clutched and - was that a ghost of a smile - before Ron yelled again, pointing a long finger at Black. The noise served to snap Black out of whatever revere he was in and with a swishing turn he was gone.

Ascella hardly knew what happened then. Just that she somehow stumbled back into the bathroom, her body trembling so much she could hardly stand. She'd _seen_ him. For the first time in her life she had stood face to face with her father. He'd been not fifteen feet from her.

She sank to the floor, her knees bent, back against the stone wall, her bare feet on the cold tile floor and her hand still clutched tight around her locket.

 _The locket_. She looked down at it. He'd _smiled_ when he saw it. She recognized that look he'd worn - she'd seen herself make it before, a ghost of a smile, but no less a smile for its ghostliness.

Suddenly she felt like she'd been plunged into an ice bath as a sickening thought crossed her mind. What if her father had been the one to send her the locket? But no - he couldn't have - but then, who else could? She thought she was going to be sick as these thoughts raced around each other, whispering the truth of it to her conscience.

Ascella had assumed it was Ted or Meda that had sent it. It had never crossed her mind that her father might have sent it, though now she felt stupid for not thinking of it. The only question now was _why_ would he have sent it? As far as she could tell it wasn't cursed - she had been wearing it for almost two months now with no adverse side affects.

It didn't make sense. None of it. She ripped the necklace from her throat and flung it across the bathroom a muted scream ripping from her. She couldn't do this anymore. It didn't make sense. And _why_ hadn't she thought of it before? Of course it would be from Black - who else could have sent it - but _why_? Harry had said there was nothing but love in the locket and that whoever had sent it had sent it for that reason. But if that were true then her father had sent it to her because he _loved_ her and that was something she could not rationalize.

The back of her throat felt raw and tight. She felt tears burning at her eyes. She dove her hands into her hair, fingers entwining between the strands as her head fell to her knees.

"Think Ascella, _think_ ," she hissed to herself. "Use that stupid Ravenclaw logic." But it didn't make sense. She couldn't reason it out in anyway that allowed her to accept that somehow her father could still love her and be as evil as he was. It was a paradox that couldn't be true.

She knew the facts. Sirius Black had betrayed Lily and James Potter to Voldemort. He'd then been tracked down by another of their friends, Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew had challenged him, cornered him, announced to a street of muggle witnesses that Sirius Black had betrayed Lily and James. Black had then blown up the street, killing Pettigrew and 12 muggles. And then he'd _laughed_. These were the facts. He was selfish. He was evil.

Ascella drove the heels of her palms into her eyes until she saw purple and black splotches in her vision, hot tears escaping the corners of her eyes. Those were the facts, she tried to tell herself even as she remembered other facts - things told to her in snippets and little moments over the years.

He'd _saved_ her from the McKinnon house where her mother had been killed. He'd brought her to live with Meda and Ted. He might even have come to visit and play with her as Meda had often hinted at - some of her words slipping in before Ascella had put her hands over her ears and started humming loudly to drown her out.

Ascella's eyes burned even more. _How_? How could someone capable of such evil acts _love_?

Then Ted's words from the summer came back to her. " _Whatever Black became, there is and was never, any doubt that he loved you, Ascella._ " She still just couldn't see _how_.

He'd betrayed his best friends - in all likelihood he'd betrayed her mother too.

But, she thought then - a dizzying moment of realization and a little hope coursing through her - what if Black hadn't betrayed her mother, she thought. Maybe, just maybe that much wasn't true. She had assumed he must have but no one had ever told her such or been able to confirm it was her father. Really it could have been anyone that betrayed her mother and her family. Maybe he had a reason for the rest. Maybe Marlene's death _had_ destroyed him, as Harry had suggested.

But no - it was just too much to comprehend and it didn't make sense with what she had always believed. She didn't want to think anymore. She stumbled out of the bathroom and took a long swig from the potion of dreamless sleep that she kept herself supplied with and fell into Harry's empty bed - no one had returned to the dormitory - and fell asleep. The next morning she stole Harry's invisibility cloak and snuck out before Harry could return to find her. She found most of Gryffindor house still in the Common Room and somehow managed to slip out only bumping into one or two first years and making them jump like they thought Sirius Black himself had touched them. Ascella might have found it funny if not for her dark mood.

She was sure Harry noticed the portrait hole open with no one there but he didn't make to try and follow her.

She found herself aimlessly wandering the castle with no care where her feet were taking her, simply enjoying the fact that no one could see her. It was with some surprise that when she became conscience of where she was mid- afternoon that she was outside of Lupin's office.

His door was open a crack and through it Ascella could see light spilling out, hear soft music playing, and smell hot chocolate.

Ascella only hesitated a moment before she slipped the cloak off, and stuffing it into her back pocket, she pushed the door the rest of the way open and entered Lupin's office.

Lupin only looked mildly surprised to see her. Mostly he looked delighted.

"Ascella!" he said brightly putting down the Sunday Prophet he had been reading a cup of hot chocolate in his hand as he sat relaxed behind his desk. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Ascella shrugged, pulling the sleeves of her jumper down over her hands and looking anywhere but at him.

"Well, do have a seat," Lupin said quieter, seeming to sense her mood. She sat. "Hot chocolate?" She nodded, her eyes still downcast.

Only when she had both her hands wrapped around her steaming mug and had taken a sip and cracked a small satisfied smile - it was by far the best hot chocolate she had ever had - did Lupin speak again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked in such a non condescending and kind way that Ascella knew she could say no and not only would he let her not speak but he wouldn't be hurt by it. As it was she had no intention of not talking about it when he asked that way. So she nodded - yes, she wanted to talk about it.

Ascella took a deep breath, looked up into her Professor's warm brown eyes and began speaking, her words tumbling out all at once.

"Is it possible to love someone even though you are a terrible person - like one of the worst kinds of persons?" she asked all in one breath. She spoke so fast she was surprised Lupin had even understood her. Understood her he must have though because he sat back as though really thinking about his answer.

"Well it depends I suppose. Most agree that Voldemort - well known to be the worst of the worst kinds of people in modern times - was incapable of loving. But," he mused, looking at her softly. "I don't suppose you are talking about Voldemort."

Ascella looked down at her mug of hot chocolate. She shook her head.

"No - only his greatest follower. Dear old _dad_. It's just - ," she said suddenly her face snapping up to Lupin's. "It's him I hear when the dementor's are near."

Lupin went pale.

"What do you mean?" he asked, a strangled quality to his voice.

And so Ascella explained - about how she first heard her mother's death and then that she heard a man's voice, an agonized man's voice, and how she felt in her very bones that it was her father.

"You kids are going to be the death of me," Lupin muttered when she finished, running a shaking hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry, Professor?" Ascella cocked her head to the side.

"You are right," he spoke louder. "I believe that it is your father you hear."

Her face crumpled, even though she knew it was true - had known since she first heard the memory - she just didn't know how to rationalize it.

"What's bothering you Ascella?" Lupin kindly asked.

"It's just - it was so raw - the agony in his voice. I always assumed he was the one that betrayed my mother and her family but what if he didn't?"

"I - I don't know," Lupin croaked.

Ascella looked up then at her professor and was surprised at what she saw there. He looked so small and helpless - so different from his usual self.

"I'm sorry Professor - I should just go - " Ascella made to rise.

"No!" Lupin said coming back to himself. "It's okay - really," he smiled at her to reassure her. Ascella sat back down.

"It's just a paradox I can't make any sense of Professor."

"Believe me - I understand - more than you know. It's just the nature of life I am afraid. People are - complicated, rarely pure evil or pure good. So if you want to know my answer to your original question; yes, a person who is seen as evil can still be capable of loving someone, even if that person is Sirius Black."

Ascella swallowed past a large lump in her throat. Trying to compose herself she nodded in response, not trusting herself to speak.

Lupin seemed to understand - filling her cup with more hot chocolate and handing her a snickerdoodle biscuit.

Some time later she eventually left and was found soon after by Harry, the Marauder's Map clutched in his hand. He looked up at her, embarrassed at being caught.

Ascella gave him a half smile to show him she wasn't mad he'd been searching for her.

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright," he sheepishly explained, clearing the map and stuffing it into a pocket.

"Not just looking for your invisibility cloak?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Harry laughed at her wry comment but he must have sensed her heart wasn't really in it because in the next instant he'd pulled her into a tight hug.

"I was so worried about you," he whispered into her hair.

Ascella buried her face into his shoulder - their height difference having shrunk some over the year.

"I saw him Harry," she said her voice muffled and weak.

She felt Harry tense before he squeezed her.

"I'm so sorry," he said fiercely. "I am just glad you are alright."

Eventually she pulled back from his embrace.

"How long have you been looking for me?" she asked.

"Well I saw the portrait hole open and assumed it was you but it reminded me I hadn't seen you since we went to bed last night so I went in search of you upstairs just in case. I found your locket in the bathroom," he withdrew the locket from his pocket and held it up to her. Ascella swallowed hard looking at it - the memory of why she'd thrown it away still fresh in her mind. "I thought the worst Ascella - that somehow Black had gotten you or something." Harry shook his head as if distressed just thinking of it. "So I went for the map and was relieved to find you just wandering alone. When I couldn't find the cloak I put two and two together and figured you wanted to be alone. I kept an eye on you though."

Ascella felt her heart warm at his words and she gave him a watery smile before throwing her arms around him again. She hardly knew what she would do without Harry nor how to show her gratitude aside from hugging him tightly. He patted her head, awkward this time and clearly embarrassed at her outpouring of emotion but he didn't back away.

"Thanks, Harry," Ascella finally said pulling back and swiping at her eyes to dry them.

"S'alright," he mumbled, cheeks faintly pink. Then he held up the locket a question in his eye as if to put it back on.

She surveyed the necklace critically, lips pursed in thought.

"Have I been acting strange in any way since Christmas?" she finally asked.

Harry lowered his hands, perplexed.

"No," he began slowly. "Not any stranger than usual at any rate," he added, with a grin.

"Oy," Ascella glared at him.

"Why do you ask?" Harry asked once he'd finished chuckling at her.

"It's just - he - Black, I mean - he looked at the necklace and smiled. I'm worried maybe he sent it to me."

"Oh," Harry said. Then his eyes widened as the full implication of what she was saying sunk in. "Oh," he said with greater emphasis. "You should get this looked at." Harry looked at the necklace, a dark look on his face, like it was about to explode in his hand.

Ascella sighed. "Come on, let's turn it over to McGonagall," she said and that's where they went.

About a week later when Ascella finally came out of the dark mood and self absorbed darkness she'd fallen into, it was to discover that Ron had been reveling in the fact that it had been his bunk, not Harry's, that had been attacked by Black. He was the center of attention and was loving it, telling anyone who would listen all about it. The way he was telling it now he'd barely made it out alive from the encounter.

It was at breakfast as he retold the story for the umpteenth time that Ascella watched with distaste.

"Must he make a spectacle of it? He is aware its my bloody insane father he's talking about, right?" she said to Harry, eyes still glaring across the table towards where Ron was sitting.

Harry shrugged his shoulder's in sympathy for her.

"Whatever," Ascella finally said, rising unable to take it anymore. "I'm eating at Ravenclaw."

Unfortunately eating at Ranvelclaw meant she was that much closer to Malfoy who didn't miss the opportunity to send a snide comment her way. She sent a bat-bogey hex at him. Wiping the smug look off his face was worth every one of the week of detentions she received from Flitwick. She almost felt bad for her Head of House - she highly doubted he had ever had a student more troublesome than her in his house. Now Minnie? No, she was used to Gryffindor's being troublesome - Gryffindor's were just sort of known for it.

"You alright?" Terry asked her when she sat down next to him afterwards.

"As alright as I'll ever be," she responded with, grabbing some toast and proceeding to butter it. "Why do you ask?"

Terry shifted in his seat as if thinking about whether or not he should answer. Deciding, he finally replied.

"It's just this is the first I've seen you actually talk to anyone, even Harry, since last Saturday."

Ascella put down her toast. Suddenly she wasn't so hungry anymore.

"Well can't stay moody forever," she said, sounding very much like she thought one could.

"Sorry," Terry mumbled. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Nah - it's whatever," she tried to pass it off. "Look I'm going to catch up with Kevin and Aaron for History of Magic," she said spotting them rising to leave the Great Hall. Without waiting for a response she pushed through the crowd and caught up with the other two boys.

"Fancy skiving?" she asked them in the Entrance Hall. The two boys glanced at the other, grinned and turning back to her they nodded. None of them ever fancied going to History of Magic - Kevin just fell asleep and Aaron just lost money.

But it turned out they didn't exactly know where to go when skiving. The weather was still too bleak and wet for them to go wander about the grounds so that only left them places within the castle. They couldn't go to the library - they'd be caught for sure. Their common room would be equally as suspicious and they couldn't exactly go all the way to Hogsmeade, Ascella not wanting to betray Harry's trust about the passages into and out of the school. An empty classroom would work but really that was asking for trouble as well. In the end they decided to make for the Astronomy Tower, thinking it would be a good place to chat for the hour of their lesson.

It was as they were making their way along a rarely used fifth floor corridor - laughing and joking with each other, feeling light and liberated at their daring to skive a lesson even if it was only History of Magic - that they were waylaid by a prefect. Ascella groaned. It was Cedric Diggory. Why was she seeing so much of this particular prefect?

He strode up to the three third years, looking between the three of them, suspicion in his eyes.

"And what would you three be up to?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Kevin has the stomach bug," Ascella replied thinking quickly. She subtly elbowed Kevin in the stomach to make him look pained and bent over for good measure too. "And I have cramps." _Cramps?_ , she thought horrified. She hadn't really just said that, had she? Apparently she had though, if the way Aaron was trying not to laugh was any indication. "And Aaron is escorting us to the Hospital Wing."

"Right," said Diggory looking hardly convinced though more than a little amused too. "Then why are you on the 5th floor?"

"Er -" Ascella looked to her companions for help. They just shrugged at her.

"We got lost?" Ascella hedged. Diggory just stared at her while she looked at him hopefully. Finally, he cracked a smile.

"Black," he sighed shaking his head. "You really are something else."

Ascella wasn't sure what he meant by that but she hoped it was good and this it meant they'd get away with getting caught skiving. Usually when she broke the rules with Harry they had the Invisibility Cloak and/or the Maruader's Map and were easily able to navigate without getting caught.

"Look, just get to your lesson and I won't report you," Diggory finally said, uncrossing his arms.

"Right! Thanks, Diggory! You're one of the good ones, you are," Ascella cut off the questions she saw burning in her friends eyes at why Diggory would let them off. She ushered her friends off in the opposite direction and sent Diggory a grateful smile over her shoulder. He smiled back and then they were around a corner and out of sight.

They ended up back in the boys dormitory in Ravenclaw where they began playing Exploding Snap. It was as they were playing that Aaron asked her why Cedric Diggory seemed so familiar with her.

"Oh," Ascella replied distractedly, her focus mostly on the game and beating Kevin. "We met at a Quidditch Party." Both boys looked up sharply at her. "What?" she asked, looking up at them.

"A Quidditch _Party_?!" Aaron half asked - half exclaimed, while Kevin shook his head at her.

"You didn't tell us you'd gone to one of those!" Aaron accused.

"What's the big deal?" Ascella asked putting her cards down the game forgotten.

"What's the big deal," Aaron said disbelieving, shaking his head at her.

"They are only like some of the coolest, most exclusive parties thrown at this school," Kevin explained. "Only Quidditch players are invited and they are only allowed one guest. People always want the invite."

"Oh," Ascella shrugged. "It wasn't really that big of a deal. It was fun sure -" But Aaron cut her off by rolling his eyes, though he did so fondly.

"Not that big of a deal. Of _course_ Ascella would say that," Aaron said more to Kevin than Ascella. Ascella narrowed her eyes at him before shoving him off Kevin's bed where they'd been playing their game. Kevin fell into Ascella laughing. Ascella felt herself color at the contact but she didn't push him away. Aaron popped up laughing and Kevin moved away to give his friend a hand up.

"You _have_ to invite one of us to the next one," Aaron said rejoining them on the bed. Kevin nodded eagerly. Ascella hadn't really thought about going to one again - she'd had other things on her mind - but the thought of inviting Kevin suddenly made her think she'd just have to, any opportunity to have some time away from Aaron. He hadn't exactly made any moves on her but they had always been hanging out when Aaron was also present. At any rate Ascella made a mental note to ask Cho when the next Quidditch Party was.

"I'll think about it," she teased instead of giving the boys a straight answer even though she already knew she'd be asking Kevin.

The topic then turned to the previous Hogsmeade visit. Ascella hadn't gone - she'd still been too upset - and they rehashed it for her. At dinner she asked Harry about his trip. He'd offered to stay behind with her but she'd told him she'd be fine. He told her then what had happened, about going to Hogsmeade under the Invisibility Cloak, throwing mud at Malfoy and his cronies (she actually laughed at that - the first time she could remember laughing in a long time), then his cloak slipping and running back only to be caught by Snape.

"Merlin Harry," Ascella had interrupted him then. "How are you not expelled?"

"Beats me. It's a right miracle," he agreed before explaining about Snape trying to read the map.

"It wrote _what_?" she choked on her laughter.

"'Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business.'" Harry recited from memory. "Then 'Mr. prongs agrees with Mr. Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git.'"

"No..." Ascella breathed, her eyes sparkling with amusement. She wanted to meet these mysterious Marauder's.

"I know," Harry said nodding. "It would have been hilarious if the situation hadn't been so dire."

"What did the other two Marauder's say?" she prompted him to go on.

"'Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor.' and finally 'Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball.'" Harry finished with a twinkle in his eye.

"Merlin. These guys are hilarious." Harry nodded in agreement. "What did Snape do?" she asked.

"Weirdly enough he called for Lupin."

"Weird."

"Yeah he seemed to think that it clearly had dark magic or something. But then he said something like that maybe I got it straight from the source or something."

"Like from one of the Marauder's? Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot or Prongs?" Ascella asked, her brow furrowed. "why would Snape ask Lupin that?"

"No idea. I thought it was strange too. Any way Lupin stuck up for me and told Snape it was clearly just a Zonko's product. A magical bit of parchment that was designed to insult anyone who tried to read it."

"I knew he was the coolest Professor we've ever had!"

"Agreed. Except he did take the map away from me," Harry admitted sheepishly. Ascella's face fell.

"Aw, why don't you go and ruin all my hopes and dreams while you're at it, why don't you?" Ascella bemoaned. Harry's only response was to roll his eyes at her.

"Anyway - that wasn't the weirdest part," he continued on. "He knew it was a map."

"No!" Ascella exclaimed, her hand going to cover her mouth in her surprise. "But how?"

"No idea," Harry said. "He reamed me pretty good about having something like this though. Seemed to think it would be a risk if Black got a hold of it."

"But only if Black knew how to use it," Ascella cut in.

"Maybe he does. Lupin clearly knew what it was and we know he knew Black."

Ascella fell silent. Harry had a point. It was still a bummer that the map had gotten taken away, even if it was almost worth it considering the comments it had written out to Snape.

"Say, where are Ron and Hermione?" Ascella asked, looking up from her soup to realize their other two friends weren't around and hadn't been around all dinner period. She knew they were still fighting but for them both to be missing from the meal was strange, especially Ron.

"They grabbed sandwiches to go and are in the library researching to help Hagrid in Buckbeak's case against the Ministry," said Harry.

"Wait - together?"

"Oh yeah - they made up on Saturday after the Hogsmeade visit."

"Hmm - you really miss a lot when you are busy ignoring everyone," Ascella mused.

"Yeah you were a bit moody. It scared me a bit," Harry admitted. "You seemed like you were in a dark place." Ascella grimaced.

"I was," she said, her head dropping at the admission. "Still am a bit."

Harry bumped his shoulder with hers.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked. She shook her head.

"I don't even know what to say."

"Well - when you do - or even if you never do - I'm always here for you."

She smiled.

"I know."

"Also don't ever get moody with me. 'Cause that would not be ace." Ascella might have taken offense at his comment but he said it with a genuine grin and so she wasn't. He was just trying to lighten the mood and redirect the tension to make her feel better and for that she was appreciative of it.

"Cheers, Potter," she said with a smile, her first genuine one in a long time.

February soon faded into March and the weather finally took a break on them. Walking back from Quidditch practice (just because the Ravenclaw season had ended so early didn't mean they weren't going to keep up with practice) Ascella asked Cho about the next Quidditch party.

"Oh it's the 25th. Friday before the Easter holidays begin. Are you coming?" she asked with a hop of excitement and hopeful smile.

"I was thinking about it," she grinned in response, curious at the older girls excitement.

"Yay!" she said. "Going to convince Harry to come to?" she asked trying to sound like she didn't care what the response was. Ascella could only grin slyly at her.

"Ooooo-ooooh," she whistled. "If I didn't know any better I'd almost think you'd rather have Harry there than me."

Cho's cheeks flushed.

"Oh shut it," she mumbled. Ascella laughed.

"Don't worry. As long as you promise to be there I will make sure Harry comes."

Cho rolled her eyes but Ascella could tell she looked pleased nonetheless.

Harry was less pleased the night of the party as he frantically tried to find something to wear - his clothes thrown about his dorm room.

"You can't bring Kevin," he was saying now, voice muffled, his head stuck in his trunk.

"And why not?" Ascella replied from her perch on his bed.

"I need you to distract Diggory again." Ascella rolled her eyes.

"Really, Harry?" she asked. "You can't just trust that it went well last time and that Cho is into you?"

Harry pulled his head out of his trunk a pair of hideous socks in his hands - they must have been a pair of hand me downs from his cousin.

"No. I can't Ascella," he briskly replied.

"And why not?" she asked. "I've _told_ you she specifically asked if you would be there."

Harry stood his mouth opening and closing as he tried to think of a reply, the hideous socks still in his hand.

"I - I - I don't know," he finally admitted, his shoulder's sagging in defeat.

Ascella slid her way off his bed and walking up to him she placed her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eye.

"Harry," she began, her voice leveled at him in such a way that didn't broker room for debate. "Cho is into you. You won't need me to be a distraction again. Come on - who could really compete with The Boy Who Lived!" Harry still didn't look convinced.

"Alright," she added seeing her words weren't having the desired effect, "if I have to I'll distract Diggory - Kevin there or not - but Kevin is coming. Deal?" Harry brightened considerably at her words.

"Deal," he said.

"Good. Now hand me those socks so I can burn them before you accidentally wear them."

And just as Ascella had anticipated there was no need for her to play distraction so that Harry and Cho could talk. Cho was the first to greet her, Harry and Kevin when they walked in and not a moment later was she pulling Harry away to go get drinks and chat. What Ascella hadn't anticipated was Kevin leaving her almost a moment later to go chat up Hufflepuff _Megan Jones_. How _she_ had managed to snag an invite to the party Ascella had no idea. And so Ascella was now sipping on the spiked punch, standing by the table it was on and glowering across the room at the cozy twosome.

It was there that Cedric Diggory found her.

"Doing alright, Black?" he asked, a smile on his face, clearly not deterred from talking to her by the dark look on her face.

"Oh just _dandy_ ," she replied barely glancing up at him. She was too busy watching Jones throw her head back laughing at something Kevin had said, her hand resting on his arm before they made for the makeshift dance floor in the middle of the room. It was then that she got an idea. She looked up at Diggory then, her eye surveying him critically, traveling up and down his body and finally resting on his face. Cho had used the word _dreamy_ to describe him all those months ago and she supposed he was rather attractive. In any case he'd do nicely for her plan.

Diggory, who hadn't failed to notice her checking him out, was looking at her now with a raised eyebrow. He opened his mouth to say something to her but she beat him to it

"Want to dance?"

Smiling Diggory nodded and Ascella dragged him across the dance floor to a spot where they couldn't be missed by Kevin and Jones. They started dancing then, Ascella moving her hips and running her hands through her long blond waves and above her head, her entire focus on Kevin. Later she would almost be grateful for the distraction as it kept her from realizing this was the first time she'd ever danced with a boy before - let alone a 16 year old boy - and so she had no time to get embarrassed and worry if she was doing it right.

As it was she only flinched slightly when Diggory put his hands on her sides at the middle of her torso, his long fingers pressing gently into her sides and leaving warmth radiating out from where he touched her.

"So," Diggory said, pulling her close so he could speak into her ear. "Who are we making jealous?"

Ascella jumped back and looked up at him - she hadn't thought she'd been that obvious. Diggory merely looked down at her a soft look in his eye. He didn't look angry at least - more disappointed? Was that the right word? She thought it must be - it wasn't like it was hurt or anything crazy like that. Still she opened her mouth to defend herself. "I - no, no one - "

"Ascella. It's fine," he cut her off, looking resigned now. "But I do think I should know so I can do my best to help out."

For the second time Dioggory had thrown her off.

"You want to _help_?" she asked. Neither of them were dancing anymore but his hands were still on her sides.

"Why not," Diggory shrugged, his eyes avoiding hers.

"Welll okay," she finally conceded. "It's that one - the Asian dancing with that stuffy Hufflepuff." Diggory followed her eyes and found the dancing couple. He eyed up Kevin before he nodded, his face unreadable and they started dancing again.

But it seemed it was to be no avail for no matter what they did or tried, not only did Kevin not seem to be jealous at all he didn't even seem to _notice_. Finally Ascella gave a sigh of defeat and she and Diggory made for the drinks table where George Weasley handed them both shots of Firewhiskey. Ascella downed hers in one swallow while Diggory nursed his.

"For what it's worth," Diggory began when they'd moved off to a quieter corner of the room. "I think it's crazy that he doesn't notice you like that." Ascella pouted, still watching Kevin and Jones. Then she sighed and turned to face Diggory fully for the first time all evening, her back to the dance floor.

"Why're you so nice?" she asked with a small smile on her face.

Diggory shrugged.

"It's just who I am."

"Well - don't ever change Diggory," she smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Call me Cedric," he said. And for the third time Ascella was caught off guard by the Hufflepuff prefect.

"I - okay," she stuttered. "Cedric it is."

Ascella hardly knew what was going on but she had little time to think on it as a very drunk Fred Weasley saw her then and grabbing her arm he pulled her out onto the dance floor. She spent the rest of the party ignoring Kevin and dancing energetically with most of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and just generally enjoying herself. If she caught Dig - no _Cedric_ \- watching her more than a few times with an unreadable look in his eye, though she thought it was happy, then she didn't let herself read too much into it, after all it wasn't as if he could _l_ _ike_ her or anything. No, someone as nice as him didn't deserve a Black.

* * *

 **a/n: Well, what did you think? Ascella finally met her father, a boy may be crushing on her (even if it isn't the one she wants), and she's started to maybe realize that her dad might not be _all_ bad. Yay! :)**


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: You know the drill - if you recognize it it isn't mine! Now Enjoy!**

* * *

 **April - May 1994**

The beginning of April brought with it a change in the weather and more than a few surprises. The least surprising of which was Hermione punching one Draco Malfoy in the face for gloating about Buckbeak being sentenced to execution. No far beyond that in the surprise factor was Hermione first messing up her carefully orchestrated time turnering schedule and missing cheering charms and not an hour later walking out of Divination.

"By Merlin I think I'm starting to rub off on you 'Mione! I am so proud," Ascella said with a grin, placing both her hands on Hermione's shoulders and giving her an affectionate shake once she heard about the Malfoy incident at supper that night. Hermione didn't throw off Ascella's embrace but she did send a glare over her shoulder at her.

Ascella herself was quite impressed with the mark Hermione had left on Malfoy's pointed face. It was still there the next day in Arithmacy.

"I'm surprised he didn't go to Madame Pomfrey to get it removed," a slightly embarrassed Hermione said when Ascella had laughingly pointed the mark out to her.

"Nah," Ascella answered as they took their seats. "Then he'd have to explain where he got it. And a git he may be but I doubt he wanted to explain that a girl gave it to him. Boys and their fragile ego's. Oy! Malfoy!" she called louder ignoring Hermione's squeak of protest. Her "cousin" looked up at her with his usual nasty sneer. And he wasn't the only one in their lesson to look up at her words either.

"Yes, Black?"

"Nice shiner you've got there! Get in a fight? Oh wait - " Ascella paused for dramatic affect. "That's right you got punched. By a _girl_. And that was right before you _ran_ away. Bet you feel emasculated." Everyone in the lesson laughed.

"Why would you do that?" Hermione hissed at Ascella pulling her down.

"Because he's a git," Ascella said, resuming her seat and throwing Hermione off.

"But I thought you were a feminist - wasn't your argument a bit sexist?" Hermione continued hissing at her.

Ascella made a face at her friend.

"Of course I'm a feminist. But Malfoy's not. And I wasn't exactly going for equal rights just then - I wanted to embarrass _him_. _Hence_ the sexist comment."

"Oh." Hermione looked away and fingered her quill. "Well you still shouldn't have said it! People listen to you and - "

"Look 'Mione," Ascella cut her friend off. "People that actually listen to me are morons - especially if they can't tell the difference between mockery and seriousness. No. End of -" she finished with a briskness Minnie would have been proud of.

Later that day Ascella was regretting her brisk tone when she learned that Hermione forgot to go to Charms and then walked out of her Divination lesson - in quite dramatic fashion too.

"'Mione, I've never been more proud of you," Ascella told her friend at dinner. "First you hit Malfoy, then you skivved a lesson - mind you I can't completely approve of the lesson you chose to skiv, but we can work on that - then you straight up told Trelawney! _Every_ one is talking about it!" Hermione flushed a faint pink but she still looked rather pleased - even Ron was looking at her in awe.

Shortly after were the Easter holiday's which weren't much of a holiday as the teacher's had assigned such large mounds of homework to the third years. Ascella hardly saw Harry he was so busy and as she couldn't be bothered with most of the assignments herself she instead spent the break in the NEWTs potions room. She was sure she was weeks away from achieving, if not a tasteful Wolfsbane potion, at least one that didn't make you want to spit it right back out the minute it touched your tongue. A fact Ascella proudly told Lupin in one of her many detentions (for some reason almost all of her detentions were with the young Defense professor - not that she was complaining , they got on famously).

"Oh really?" he asked with a spark in his eye. He smiled and filled her cup of tea up further.

"Yes! I really am close. Just you wait - it'll be the best thing ever."

"I am sure Andromeda will be very proud of you," Lupin said.

"wait - you know my guardian?" Ascella stopped up short at Lupin's casual use of Meda's name, looking up at her professor with suspicious eyes. Lupin for his part looked shaken - as if he'd misstepped somehow and given something away he shouldn't have.

"I - yes, well she was a bit older than me in school but everyone knew the Black's," Lupin tried to deflect her curiosity, a bead of sweat forming at his temple.

Ascella made a non believing "Mmmhmm," sound but let it drop - she supposed people were allowed their secrets. Didn't mean she wasn't going to ask Meda about it in her next letter though. As it was Lupin looked relieved when she went back to her "work" writing lines about how just because she was defending her friend (Harry) against the attacks from the Slytherin Quidditch team in lieu of the upcoming match that it didn't mean she could use magic against other students.

"Oh Ascella," Lupin called a couple hours later as she was making to leave. "I almost forgot to give this back to you."

Ascella turned to see Lupin bending down to open a drawer in his desk. He then pulled out a silver metal chain and attached to it - "My locket!" she said bounding forward and snatching the locket back. She caressed her thumb over the cool metal surface a bright smile on her lips. She turned her eyes up to Lupin and asked, "No curses? Jinxes?"

Lupin shook his head, eyes crinkling at the corners at her response. "None."

Delighted, Ascella bounced on her feet and quickly draped the necklace over her head, sighing with satisfaction as she felt the comfortable weight rest on her breast bone once more. She looked back up at her professor then.

"So, Black didn't send it to me then?"

Lupin hesitated before answering. And when he did he didn't meet her eye, his face turning to shadows. "It is hard to say. All of Marl-McKinnon's - " he tried to correct himself, "family was killed in the attack. I would've assumed she was buried with it. You are sure neither of your guardian's had it?"

Ascella shook her head. She'd asked them around the time she and Harry had first turned in the necklace. They hadn't even known Marlene had had a necklace such as this.

"Well who's to know," Lupin said reaching a hand out to rub her shoulder in a reassuring way. "Even if Black did send it - at least he didn't do it to hurt you - or Harry."

Ascella took a step back her face wrinkling up at his words.

"But that doesn't make sense. Why would he do something like that - something almost, almost _loving_ ," she asked - no demanded - her lip curling on the last word. Lupin just stared back at her his face unreadable but at least looking her in the eye.

"I don't know," he finally said.

"But that's not okay!" Ascella retorted her voice growing in volume. "There has to be a reason!"

"Ascella - " Lupin started trying to reach for her but she flinched out of his reach. Now was not a time for being touched. But more than anything Ascella wasn't looking for the placating words all adults in her life seemed to use when they tried to explain concepts of ambiguity they seemed to think children didn't understand. And Ascella didn't want to hear those - she just wanted answers but she wasn't going to get them here. Lupin had too many secrets and was too experienced with keeping them.

"Good night, professor," she said to cut off any further words from Lupin, ignoring the rather hurt look in his eye. "Thank you for the locket and I will see you in Defense." And she left, without waiting to hear if he responded.

Ascella was glad then of the upcoming Quidditch Cup final between Gryffindor and Slytherin - as it provided ample distraction from her continued thoughts and nightmares of a murderous father that somehow still could love.

Happily, Gryffindor won, Oliver Wood finally getting his coveted Quidditch Cup win - something they should have had ever since Harry joined the team as he drunkenly relayed to anyone and everyone who'd listen (and even those who wouldn't) later that night at the Gryffindor party in the common room, one arm around the trophy like it was his girlfriend, the other with a mug of drink in hand.

It was around this time that Ascella's nuisance of a fellow Ravenclaw, Lisa Turpin, decided to try and get revenge on Ascella for her many pranks on the annoying girl. Turpin tried to make the Gryffindor win of the Quidditch Cup Ascella's fault loudly proclaiming in Ancient Runes that if Ascella hadn't "cost us the match against Slytherin" then it would have been Ravenclaw in the running for Quidditch Cup instead of Slytherin.

"Oh," Ascella drew out the word with a mock conspiratorial tone. The room went quite waiting for Ascella's response. "So you didn't hear the real reason we lost the match? Turns out my bludger barely grazed Davies. It was actually because he caught sight of you in the stands - if you weren't such an ugly cow then he wouldn't have been so frightened, just frightened right off his broom."

The room that had gone quite then filled with mixed awe and evil chortles at what Ascella said - Turpin was not well liked. Even Zabini next to her couldn't help but let lose a snort of amusement. Encouraged by her classmates responses Ascella continued, her mocking tone fueling her mocking smile. "Besides, if you knew anything about Quidditch you'd know we would've needed more than a 300 point gain over Slytherin based on our results in the other matches - which you should note, I _didn't_ play in - and even Davies has admitted we just weren't good enough to make up that ground, especially against Slytherin." All of which was true and something any self respecting Ravenclaw Quidditch fan knew - even the fans from other houses were nodding their agreement at her words.

Face red with rage and embarassment Turpin turned away much to Ascella's delight. And not a moment too soon for Professor Babbling walked through the door not a moment later to begin the lesson.

"Put her in her place," Zabini commented facing the front of the classroom as if he wasn't speaking to her. Ascella cocked an eyebrow as she surveyed his profile, a satisfied smile tugging at her lips. Was that a tone of approval in his voice she heard?

She airily flipped her hair over one shoulder and said, "All in a day's work, Zabini. All in a day's work."

Zabini made a noise like a quick chocked laugh. Ascella looked sharply at him, fast enough to not miss the slight twinkle of amusement in the one eye she could see.

"Why Zabini," Ascella exclaimed, her hand going to her breastbone and the locket that rested there. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were amused by me." Then she lowered the volume of her voice and leaned in as if to share a secret. "Are we becoming, dare I say it, but are we becoming _friends_?"

Zabini spun to face her so swiftly that Ascella had to sit back and cover her mouth lest her laughter draw Babbling's attention. "We are _not_ friends." His intensity and quick denial had her bent almost double over her desk. Only Zabini would react such to the idea of having a friend.

"Uh huh," she said patting his shoulder, once she'd gotten control of herself, an action that only added to the strength of the disgust on his face. "Not friends at all." Zabini's scowl deepened and he refused to talk to her for almost two weeks. Despite that Ascella knew they were friend's of a sort - if begrudging ones.

May arrived then and with it brought a change in the weather - spring had finally arrived in all its warmth and joy. Unfortunately everyone else was too busy studying to want to enjoy it with Ascella. She could occasionally convince Aaron to come outside to study, but only occasionally as they usually just ended up chatting, their socks off and pants rolled up with their feet and toes tickling the water of the Great Lake. It was during one of these such hang outs, Ascella laying with her head in Aaron's lap soaking up the sun, her eyes half closed while he gently played with the ends of her hair, that Aaron brought up an unexpected subject.

"Ascella?" Aaron asked, his voice smaller and more serious than she was used to hearing, his hands stilling from their previous activity.

"Hmm," Ascella murmured, her eyes fluttering open to look up at her friend.

"Do you like Kevin?"

Ascella bolted up at the question, spinning to look at him. Of all the questions she'd expected him to ask it hadn't been that.

"Why would you ask that?" Ascella answered the question without really answering it. Aaron's hopeful face fell. He sighed deeply.

"You do. Padma was right."

"what's she got to do with this?" Ascella snapped. She was still more than a little annoyed at her friend for ignoring her without explanation for the past few months.

"Nothing!" Aaron hurried to calm his friend. "It's just - we were talking - you know we got close last year when Kev was - well when he was sick -" Aaron stumbled over how to describe what had happened to his best friend the previous year when he'd been petrified and he looked so innocent that Ascella felt her defensiveness fade away. She reached out her hand to his in comfort. His big blue eyes met hers then. This was her friend - who was suddenly moving much too close much too quickly, eyes closed and lips puckered. And Ascella was frozen. She could only watch, her eyes wide as he grew closer and closer until his puckered lips met hers -

Ascella jumped back like she'd been shocked. Had he just _kissed_ her?

"Oh no! Ascella - Imsorryimsorryimsorry - " Ascella held up a hand to stop Aaron's rambling though she wasn't thinking much clearer than her friend. Wait - could you even still _be_ friends after you'd touched lips? Ascella shook herself and berated herself to focus.

"Wha-what was that?" she asked. When Aaron's only response was to go more red, Ascella clarified, her voice pitched low. "Did you just try to _kiss_ me?"

Aaron began wringing his hands and trying to look anywhere but directly at her.

"Um well, yes."

"Why?"

This time Aaron looked right at her, his expression telling her his answer should be obvious.

"'Cause I like you - as more than a friend!"

"But - like _why_?"

Aaron, it seemed, couldn't even form a response to that instead just staring at her, his mouth occasionally opening and closing as if trying to speak. Ascella decided then that she didn't really need, or want, his answer anyway.

"Nevermind - " she waved him off. "If you know I like Kevin why would you still try?"

Aaron shrugged. "I don't know. You were holding my hand and you just looked so pretty with the sunshine in your hair and the way it looked a little windswept and I just got overwhelmed. And maybe I thought - I don't know it's stupid clearly," he broke off looking away from her a blush high in his cheeks. Ascella had never seen this side of him. She couldn't help but find it - endearing.

"Do you really like me?" Aaron looked up with a hopeful intensity at her words that made Ascella blush. "I mean as more than a friend?"

Slowly, Aaron nodded as if unsure if her questions were good things.

"And Kevin really likes that stuffy Hufflepuff, doesn't he?"

Again Aaron nodded.

"Well - I don't know if I like you - but we could - I don't know, maybe try that kiss thing again..." Ascella trailed off feeling her cheeks heat up at just the thought. "You know - just to make sure feelings are or aren't really there, ya know?

"I think that is a very educated theory that needs testing."

"Right," Ascella said sitting up onto her knees. "How do we do this?"

"Uh - I guess we like -" Aaron made jerky motions with his hands as if to grip her face while turning his head to one side.

"Um - okay - " Ascella moved closer, turning her head slightly the opposite way of Aaron's. He put a hand on her cheek - it was somehow cold and clammy at the same time. She tried to not flinch. He looked at her for the span of a few seconds that only served to make Ascella more uncomfortable, then he starting leaning in closer...

"Wait!" Ascella put up a hand to his chest. "How long are we supposed to kiss for?"

Aaron sat back, seriously considering her question.

"Well I don't know truly... my brother and his friends never talk about how long you do it for."

"You've talked to your brother about kissing?!"

"No! They just tend to talk about it when I'm around."

"Oh." Ascella was silent for a second. "Well how about five seconds?" she suggested. It seemed like a satisfactory amount of time. Not too long and not too fleeting like whatever the first attempt had been (Ascella _refused_ to count that as her first kiss - she hadn't even been able to process it!).

"Five seconds it is!" Aaron grinned his response.

Then they were back to where they'd been a moment before - clammy and cold hand at her cheek, slowly moving closer. When Aaron was about to meet her lips with his, she forced her eyes to close, and then his lips were pressed to hers for, one-two-three-four-five seconds. They pulled away from each other then, Aaron's hand falling to his side, both looking anywhere but at the other, Ascella's hand going to her lips, resisting the urge to wipe the feeling of his lips off.

"Well?" she finally prompted.

"Nothing," Aaron said his bright blue eyes meeting hers. Then he half laughed, half sighed. "I felt nothing!"

In another situation Ascella might have taken offense but she was far too relived to feel anything else.

"Oh thank Merlin!" she sighed in her relief instead. "Me neither. Friends?"

"Friends," Aaron agreed with his usual grin, reaching out a hand to shake on it. Ascella gladly received it.

"Anyway, lunch 'Cella?" Aaron asked then.

"No. Go on - I'm going to stay out for a bit. Enjoy the sun while I can." Aaron nodded and left her to it.

But she wasn't to enjoy the sun for long as not but a few moments later she was cast into shadow by a certain tall Hufflepuff prefect.

"What the - where'd the sun go - Oh 'lo Cedric? How're you?" Ascella asked upon opening her eyes to see the grinning boy above her.

"Just patrolling the grounds now that the weather is nice. May I join you?"

Ascella nodded her confirmation that he may. Cedric sat next to her. Ascella had closed her eyes once more but she felt him staring at her so she opened one to look at him.

"What's got you so amused?" she asked interpreting the prefect's facial expression. His smile widened.

"Hmm - well let's see. If I am not mistaken, it was a couple months ago now, but I do believe the boy I just saw you with was in fact _not_ the boy we intended on making jealous, correct?"

Ascella sigh-groaned. So he'd seen the kiss - she didn't suppose she was surprised, it was a clear day and she and Aaron hadn't exactly been in a hidden part of the grounds - it was just, why did he keep finding her in these ridiculous situations?

"Correct, it wasn't the same boy. That was his best mate."

"Oh the scandal."

"Oh stuff it," she said as Cedric laughed. "Nothing like that. Just realized Kevin - the other guy - was never gonna like me and that I'd wasted enough time on him - I do have _some_ dignity. But Aaron likes, well liked now, me so I thought 'Hey, let's give it a shot. If nothing else I'll get my first kiss over with.'"

The laughter faded from Cedric's face at her words.

"What?" she prompted, seeing him beginning to knead the inside of his bottom lip as if in deep thought.

"You shouldn't just want to 'get it over with'. Your first kiss I mean."

"And why not?" Ascella demanded of the older boy.

"Well," he drew out the first word capturing her attention with his deep eyes. "You want to like the kiss right? So you need to come at it with the right attitude, otherwise you might be less inclined to want to kiss again."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, did you like it? The kiss?"

"It was underwhelming."

"See! That's because you didn't come at it with the right attitude."

"If you're saying I should of waiting for my first kiss, then thanks dad, but I think I can handle myself." Ascella patted Cedric on the shoulder, flushing as she realized how much more - solid? was that the word? - Cedric's upper arm was than that of the boys she knew. Fortunately for her, Cedric appeared to be too busy laughing at her sarcasm to notice her flushed skin. Regardless she quickly retreated her hand from his arm.

"No, I'm not saying that," Cedric tried to defend himself still half chuckling. "I'm just saying don't be too discouraged from trying again. You might be surprised."

"Right. I'll just tell all the boys lining up to snog me," she continued with her sarcasm - it was a good distraction from her previous thoughts - gesturing to the empty space beside her to indicate the lack of boys lined up, "that I'm open for business."

"Please," Cedric snorted. "Boys like you. Believe me."

"Tyeah. Just to ogle me. Or they aren't the boys that I like."

"Give one of those other lads a shot then. You might be surprised."

"But that's what I did with Aaron! And you just saw the end of that!"

"Not all of them will be like Aaron."

"Huh. I'll take your word on that," she said like she very much wouldn't believe him.

"Better do," Cedric replied ignoring her sass. Ascella rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him - a very mature response. Cedric snorted and booped her nose with the tip of his forefinger. Ascella wouldn't admit it later but she forgot how to breath for a second.

"Anyway," Cedric sighed, breaking through Ascella's dopey staring and rising, brushing off his trousers as he did. "Best be going - prefect rounds to finish. If you're lucky I might just not report you for inappropriate canoodling by the Great Lake." He winked to show Ascella he was only kidding.

"You wouldn't dare!" Cedric's only response was to dart out of her reach and stroll away as if without a care in the world, while she cursed.

Despite her seeming annoyance and confusion the interaction had just given her, she also found herself smiling to herself. So much so that she was quite caught off guard a few hours later while just leaving the girls lavatory on the third floor, a goofy grin on her face as she remembered something funny Cedric had said, to find Padma squaring up to her ready to fight.

"Heard you snogged Aaron." Her nasty tone and accusing stare immediately soured Ascella's pleasant mood.

"Oh hullo to you too Padma. Yes, I am doing alright. These past few months have been lovely, especially with all that chatting we've been able to do," Ascella started off sarcastically before letting her true venom into her next words. "Classy Pads. The first words you've spoken to me in bloody months and it's not even to ask how I've been. I don't need this shit. Now if you'll excuse -" she made to brush past the girl but she found her exit blocked by Padma.

"Why'd you do it? You knew I liked him. Why do you _always_ do it?" the other girl accused her.

Acsella pulled up short at that.

"I'm sorry? I _always_ do it? Pray tell what, precisely, is _it_ that I always do?"

"You know, wrap all the boys around your little finger - get them all to fall all over themselves for you - trying to impress you and talk to you. And you don't do a thing to stop them for falling for you. In fact you encourage it!" Padma emphasized her point with an accusing pointer finger jabbed at Ascella with her words.

"Excuse me?" Ascella said then, her face all edges and cold anger, a vortex of icy and cutting rage. Any rationally thinking person would have backed off at this look but Padma wasn't thinking rationally.

"You so much as look or smile in their direction and they do your every bidding!" Padma exclaimed. Not only did Ascella feel this was a gross exaggeration but she also felt the irony of Padma being the one to yell it at her.

"You're one to talk. I've seen you and your sister - batting eyes at all those boys when you want something from them."

Padma made a rather unflattering note of disgust.

"I do not _bat_ eyes at anyone!"

"Oh really? That's why pimply Peter Pernipskit of Hufflepuff deals with all the disgusting potions ingredients when you partner him, huh? And offers to partner you whenever he can? And all just so you don't have to ruin your nails." Padma's mouth snapped shut. "That's what I thought. I'm not the only good looking one here."

Padma pouted. "But I'm not pretty, not when I'm next to you," she bemoaned. "Not when it comes to Aaron. It's like they all forget I even exist with you around, as you suck them in with your giant beacon of golden haired brightness," she finished punctuating each word with extra force.

"Look," Ascella spat, seeming to tower over the shorter girl, completely done with this conversation. "It's not like I ask for them to ogle me! Not like I encourage it. Or enjoy it-"

"Please!" Padma spat back, not backing down from Ascella's intimidation techniques. "You _revel_ in it. And you take advantage of it and you don't even know it. At least I can admit when I'm using someone's feelings."

Here Ascella found herself caught quite off guard - as far as she could tell she had never used Aaron's feelings for own selfish interests - in fact she actually remembered trying to go out of her way not to - hanging by the lake aside.

"What are you even talking about?" Ascella finally asked, her curiosity besting her anger for the moment.

"While you've been mooning over Kevin, who doesn't even like you, you've had Terry completely besotted! Do you know how sad it is to witness everyday as he waits around the Great Hall at dinner until you've left on the off chance you might head back up to Ravenclaw and seek out his help, to see him light up when you rise from the Gryffindor table alone or otherwise, get closer and closer to the Ravenclaw table and then to see the utter deflation when you just walk right on by without so much as a glance over? It's crushing and pathetic and so sad. And _I've_ had to deal with his pouting even if he refused to admit he was upset. And don't even get me started on Charms Club!" Padma groaned. "It's all he ever talks about for weeks leading up to and after and it's always 'Ascella this, Ascella that'."

"Uh - I - um," Ascella tried to speak. She felt like her whole world was spinning. She'd suspected Aaron had liked her but never - _never_ \- had she suspected shy Terry Boot, her Charms friend of having a crush on her.

Padma just looked at her, breathing heavily.

Finally Ascella found the words. "I'm sorry. I honestly didn't know." Padma deflated.

"No. I'm sorry. That was unfair. I was just angry. And hurt."

"I know," Ascella started. Padma raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, now I know. And I'm sorry - I should have noticed sooner. Both about Terry and about your feelings for Aaron and why you were upset with me."

"And I should have told you why I was upset instead of ignoring you. I'm sorry. It's just - " Padma cast her hand about as if looking for the right word. "You can just be so comfortable and you are pretty and smart and the way you are with Terry he just doesn't know that it's just you being you."

Ascella deflated, remembering instances when Terry had been blushing and understanding them now.

"You are right. But I will try to be better. It's just I can't not hang around him. He's my friend."

"I know. I'll try and talk to him, tell him you aren't interested. Not that it'll probably help - crushes are strange things."

"Thanks," Ascella said with a smile. "And yeah they are. And I really am sorry about the Aaron thing but its over now. He doesn't like me now either."

Padma visibly brightened and perked up at that.

"Really," Ascella assured Padma. "The kiss was awful. No spark on either side." Padma deflated. "Not that I'm sure he's a had kisser! I'm sure hes excellent with someone he actually likes! And maybe now he'll give someone else a shot he hadn't thought of before - like you! I'm told you can be surprised," Ascella said in a sing song voice, quoting what Cedric had told her earlier. And it worked, a smile creeping up on Padma's face.

"Who told you that?"

"Oh just an older someone," Ascella hedged airily.

Padma demanded to know who but Ascella flat refused, a secret grin on her face. She liked her chats with the older boy and didn't want to share them just yet.

"I'm glad we've made up," Ascella said instead.

"Same. The dorm hasn't been the same. Now I want to hear all about the kiss!"

"Are you sure? You might not like what you hear?"

Padma waved her off. "Don't worry - like you said - it would be different with me."

"Oy! I said it _might_ be different. Maybe he really _is_ a bad kisser," Ascella teased.

Padma's response was to hit her, while Ascella cackled. What a strange day she'd had and little did she know but her life was about to get even stranger.

* * *

 **a/n: I'm really sorry for the delay... no I haven't forgotten this. I just had a lot of personal stuff to deal with that you don't care about (but if you do it'll be at the bottom) but I am back! What do you think my lovelies?! Next chapter Ascella gets all the answers!**

 **Gonna try and go to a weekly update so feel free to yell at me if I'm falling off haha - I won't be offended, it's a compliment if you want more chapters.**

* * *

Note: If you wanted to know my Grandmother passed about the time I stopped posting. She and I used to write letters back and forth - she'd been an English Lit major back in the day at University (the female version of Harvard in the late 30s and 40s when men and women still went to separate University - so yeah smart lady) and she loved to read and she loved my letters. She was one of the biggest supporters of my writing and her lose in combination with her last letter to me, "I can't wait to one day read a novel written by you" sent me into a downward spiral. She always believed I would be a writer and a published author and knowing she thought that even as a lit major, as someone who analyzes the shit out of writing, - well - it always made me proud and happy but at her lose and knowing she would never see that - well it made me think and the thoughts I had weren't always great. Long story short my mood wasn't conducive to this story or writing in general for which I feel shame, but I am back because I love to write and I will one day make my Grandmother proud.

I don't share this for sympathy but to explain. So thank you so much to all who have enjoyed this story and I will be back with more! :D


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